Reply to How do you handle it when a parent unfairly criticizes your way of doing things at your own home?

Forum Index » Family Relationships

Reply to "How do you handle it when a parent unfairly criticizes your way of doing things at your own home?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]My mom occasionally says things that are critical, although she's not a generally critical person.  But the upside is that she is totally willing to "fix" the problem.  If they are visiting and she comments that my carpets are dirty, I tell her that I am willing to rent a carpet cleaner if she will clean the carpets.  And she does!  Or I'll tell her why we do X thing, and that's the end of it.  Or I'll just agree--"Yeah, Mom, it's on my to-do list but I haven't gotten around to it yet."  Then she drops it.  But I find that agreeing with the critical person takes all the wind out of their sails.  "Yep, you're right, it's terrible!"  You don't even have to do the thing they think you should do, you just agree with them and then move on.

It also helps that I don't take it personally.  Comments about my clothes or my house are not comments about my value as a person.  My mom is not critical about things like how I parent my kid, for example, or even about my looks (weight, haircut, etc.)  If it's just external stuff, it's not personal.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics