@coco9, I sat and cried when you said the timing was wrong. That's it for our kids. It...
I think thats exactly it
@ladee, its not a fight to show who had it worse and is justified in their addictions or destructive habits.
That can be such a very difficult balancing act to maintain when trying to communicate that, it becomes sort of a tug of war by accident very quickly.
I've had some very scary times with mine, and some that weren't mine, I've taken a few extra in and still have one that I consider mine now. While that was very hard, its really just a sign of my crazy lifestyle and bad boundaries, not altruism. I was just never home, and did whatever made my kids happy. Happy kids dont turn to crime or get in fights, right?
I was no mother at all, I was just trying not to be crazy or sad, and get through the day without thinking about my past or looking too far down the road in the future- I thought it was likely I'd end up in homeless shelter if I lost my income at any time for a few years. That was my excuse to self indulge and decide I didnt need to be a real mom. I didnt have one, so I wasnt sure what I was supposed to be doing anyway. They looked happy enough, most of the time.
The thing I realized with my boys, is that they dont tell you when things have gone horribly wrong, or something happened, or someone beat them up, or they tried to kill themselves, until at least two years after it happened. Then they'd want me to be accountable and take responsibility for their pain.
I'm not allowed to say I didnt know what happened, or I would have fixed it. They'll tell me I should have known, and thats my real failure. They want to see that I dont dodge around that and deflect responsibility from being too traumatized, sick or overworked to see that they were not okay.
Whats been helpful for me is to very carefully word my descriptions of how I grew up, what happened with their father, and what the reality was. I tell them there were absolutely times that I could not have done better than I did, as awful as it was, I just didnt have it in me. I also tell them that there were times I could have done better, but was in the habit of feeling broken, so didnt even try. I'm sorry, they know I'm genuinely sorry.
But I wont let them talk when they're angry, they can be angry with me, but I've been almost killed by men in the past, its not okay for 6 ft tall kids to go at me in a rage. I've thrown them out because the anger directed at me and the size of them puts me in shock. They'd never touch me and I know that, its a horrendous trigger to have that scenario for me though. So they have to leave, then come back, my part of the deal is that I dont interrupt until they've finished whats important for them to say, even when I think its bullshit, then we try to compromise.
I always have in my mind that how we are working out differences, might be something they'll do with a partner someday. How I teach them to treat me, might be how the mother of my grandchildren are treated someday. I suppose thats the only kind of parenting I can do now, but I try when I can.
Some of the reason for the kids I took in, was manipulative on my part also, they had horrible home lives with hard drug addict parents, I looked like a f*cking Fairy Princess Mom to some of them. That was a deliberate manipulation of my boys, I was hoping they'd let those kids talk them into thinking I was great too, isnt that shitty? It turns out they knew what I was doing and I've had to apologize for that too.
I've seen the look in each of my childrens eyes, when they are gone. When you know that they dont belong to you anymore, and so far I've been blessed enough to see that look fade away eventually.
I know its different because mine are younger, they havent been missing from my life for years at a time, and I'm not comparing my situation to those that have children that have walked away. I'm only sharing that I've given my children a reason to walk away, and I know I cant control how they feel in the future, and I didnt mold how they felt when they were little.
It was hard for me to share all of this right here, I dont cry easily but I have mascara all over my face now. I wrote this comment because I tend to be sarcastic and make posts that are sometimes more obnoxious than honest sharing. What I've been reading here on this thread shows incredible courage from the people here.
All of our hearts have been broken, and we have broken all of the wrong hearts because of it.