Why Your Children Choose “Parental Alienation” Over Having a Relationship with You
It’s latest phrase that helps toxic parents avoid accountability. Let’s break it down.
by E.B. Johnson
We knew it wouldn’t be long until our toxic parents found a way to shirk accountability. This time, it’s with the colorful phrase “parental alienation” — a phrase once used to describe the intentional separation of young children from a caretaker during a divorce.
Now, a whole generation of parents is arming themselves with the concept of “parental alienation” as a means to shift the blame back onto the adult children who won’t speak to them.
“She’s alienated me from my grandchildren…”
“He’s alienated me from his life…”
Scratch just a little beneath the surface of these claims, however, and you find exactly what you would expect to find.
Parents who don’t respect their children as autonomous people. Parents who don’t think their children are smart enough to make their own decisions, and parents who believe that they have a right to interject in their child’s life in any way they see fit.
