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[quote=Anonymous]I have bad parents. They are not bad people, and it's really not entirely their fault -- they had kids very young (and had no choice, given conservative Catholic backgrounds). They themselves had terrible parents and were regularly abused and neglected as children. My mother has no college degree and grew up poverty adjacent (her parents were divorced but she lived with her mother who was an alcoholic and did not work). My father grew up in poverty and is self-made -- he is incredibly smart, put himself through a very competitive engineering college program, worked his way up through corporate ranks from the bottom, started his own business, became very successful. I have both a lot of empathy and admiration for my parents and what they have been through.

BUT they were not good parents, they still aren't. I used to joke that I raised myself using the family encyclopedia but my therapist has taught me that I don't have to make this sound like a fun joke because it's actually true. I was largely left in the care of my older siblings, who resented the job and ignored me. I had several physical and mental health issues that were never treated or diagnosed because I didn't go to the doctor or dentist for 5 years at one point. My parents had money, it was not a financial issue (though they had a poverty mindset and would avoid spending money on even basic necessities if they could). Because my parents were married, employed, and financially solvent, what would have been obvious about my situation were we poor was invisible to teachers and other adults, and I learned that no one would help me and that if I asked for help, people would be annoyed with me or find me entitled. I put myself through college with loans and working (I did not qualify for any aid except work study and my parents would not help with with tuition). I even put myself through grad school. I moved far away, made a life for myself, got married, had a kid. I have a pretty good life all things considered. But I am still pretty messed up because of how I was raised, and even though I understand why it happened that way, I still sometime feel anger and resentment at my parents that they could not wake up to the problems with what they were doing.

I still have relationships with my parents, though not all my siblings do. I want my child to have grandparents and especially because some of my siblings are estranged and the others are not very reliable, may parents are really the best chance for my kid to have a connection to my side of the family. So even though I still sometimes feel angry with them, I keep that connection and go along to get along.

But the thing I have the hardest time with is that my parents engage in a lot of revisionist history regarding both my childhood and their own. The older they get, the rosier these "memories" get. I think they've blocked out the worst of it just to feel okay with themselves and I get that, but sometimes I listen to them talk about this idyllic life that no one in my family ever experienced, talking about vacations we never took, family meals and celebrations I'm pretty sure they got from books and movies. Our home was filled with rage, yelling, hitting, silent treatment, and crying when I was a kid. My parents both just walked out at various points in a rage, only to return a few days later acting like it had never happened. We were constantly reminded to never tell anyone about what happened in our house. When pediatricians or dentists raised issues with my mother about potential abuse, she would change practices and complain to anyone who asked about what a jerk the last one was.

Sometimes it's so hard to listen to them talk about this childhood I never had, listen to them pat themselves on the back for what a great family life they created, take credit for my successes, express bewilderment about my sister who doesn't speak to them or the brother who only appears for certain holidays without his wife or family.

They are old, it's too late for any of this to change. I'm just tired of listening to their BS, which they crafted to make themselves feel better. I do sometimes envy my siblings who've basically cut them out. I only speak to them every couple months and see them once or twice a year but when I do, it's so draining.

Any words of advice?[/quote]

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