How To Spot a Toxic Relationship as a Parent

Relationships can be tricky, especially so with parents of teens. How can we be sure that we are setting our children up for their adult lives in the best possible way? Well, one thing we can do is ensure their relationships with partners are healthy. If you suspect your teen is involved with an abusive partner, here are some signs to watch for.

Toxic Parent: What is it?

Toxic parents are those that constantly put their own wants and needs above the needs of their children. They control their children’s lives with a grip of iron. Kids are only allowed to do a certain thing and will immediately be reprimanded if they try anything else. This type of parent will use mental and physical abuse to terrorise their children into submission. This type of parent loves nothing more than seeing their kids hurt, and their child’s pain becomes the acceptable side effect of their parent’s own happiness.

Of all the possible things that your child could accuse you of, being toxic may be the least likely. After all, who wants to be the kind of person that makes them have to kill themselves? Unfortunately, however, this is sometimes the case. Toxic parents are people who continuously exhibit unhealthy behaviour, and these behaviours can endanger your child’s well-being.

What are the Signs of a Toxic Parenting?

When kids act out in anger or act out in defiance, it is often a sign of toxic parenting—whether the parents are aware of it or not. In young children, these behaviours may be the result of being over-stimulated or overstimulated by a demanding parent. Many parents do not realise that if they respond in anger or frustration, these behaviours may get worse.

A Rigid Parent

Rigid, demanding, and intrusive. This parenting style is characterised by feelings of guilt, hopelessness, and anger. It causes a child’s self-image to be distorted, causing low self-esteem and self-worth.

Emotionally Unstable Parent

Toxic parenting refers to parents who are overly controlling and disrespectful of their adult children. A recent study provided evidence that toxic parenting can cause emotional instability, manifesting in a host of psychological difficulties.

An Abusive Parent

Abusive, toxic relationships can destroy your self-confidence, self-esteem, and even your relationships, not to mention your mental and physical health. While you might believe that your abusive, toxic partner always means well, you will only suffer more abuse if you do not break free from the relationship.

Many parents struggle with managing their anger toward their children, and, as a result, their children feel anxious, depressed, and conflicted. They, too, struggle with managing anger toward their parents. The signs of toxic parenting include yelling, verbal abuse, emotional manipulation, and neglect. Children who are growing up in these unhealthy environments grow up to believe that they are to blame for the anger they have toward their parents. Still, the anger they experience toward their parents is actually a response to the anger they experience toward themselves.

Instead, children become conditioned to dissociate from the emotions they feel toward their parents. Feeling anger toward a parent is considered bad, so the child learns to dissociate from that emotion. As parents, we often try to encourage our children to make good choices, even if it means sacrificing our own wants and desires. After all, depriving ourselves of something we really want will make the future decision more difficult, but is it worth it? After all, we want the best for our children. What happens when you want to give them the chance to make a bad decision and can’t because you will feel guilty for even considering it?

A toxic relationship can take many different forms. Not all relationships that begin as loving and innocent end up that way. In a healthy relationship, both people involved feel safe and secure. They feel valued and cared about. They feel that their relationship is special and that the other person is constantly working on making it better.