Ask HN: Do you hate your parents? If so, why?

It seems that so many of my friends are frustrated at their parents/upbringing and I wonder if it's a larger trend?

I don't remember ever hating my parents, but I did resent them for several years, sometimes not contacting them for months.

I think it is an unhealthy and unhelpful thought pattern, one which can transfer easily from person to person.

I don't think it ever helps anyone. And I think it is a coward's pursuit, because most parents will not try to hurt you back, even if you hurt them. And hurt them you will, because it hurts to hear your own child speak against you.

All of our parents have done something that hurt us as children, and most of our parents have done much, much more trying to do good, despite the odds being stacked against them. As a parent, ancestral customs, societal pressures, and entropy are all fighting against you, trying to kill, maim, harm your child, and it's all you can do is sweat working against all that shit at once, while at the same time, behind you, trying to create a positive, happy experience for your child.

I think it is a symptom of how spoiled we are by our society with space and resources, because most people in the past had no choice but to live with their parents and get along with them.

I like what Joseph Brodsky has to say on the matter: “Parents are too close a target… The range is such that you can’t miss.” Be generous with your family. Even if your convictions clash with theirs, don’t reject them—your skepticism of your infallibility can only benefit you. It will also save you a good deal of grief when they are gone.

> And I think it is a coward's pursuit Strong words forgotmypw. Clearly, you don't have any experience with a narcissist because, no amount of hand-wringing and kumbaya is going to fix it. I was the good son. I did that for two decades, it didn't help. My experience is that there is absolutely no hope for narcissistic parents. Get away; Adopt a policy of non-contact; and Don't look back. Just remember that when you pontificate (and name-call) about something like this: not all of us were blessed with rational, stable, straight-edge people for parents.

I have complex PTSD, which comes from being physically and emotionally abused as a child. It has severely impacted my self-image and self-esteem, my choices in life and the way that I relate to others.

It took me a long time to realize what had even happened. I thought I had had a good childhood for most of my life. All I knew was that I was a deeply depressed person who felt "broken" and couldn't ever figure out why because nothing was obviously wrong. I was still an outwardly successful person.

I stumbled on CPTSD by chance and things suddenly clicked into place. I found the symptoms matched up perfectly to my experience. That forced me to question my upbringing, and on revisiting a lot of memories I began to understand that I was abused and that I had repressed the pain and conflict for my own survival. Children tend to love their parents no matter what as a survival mechanism. It's not uncommon for abuse survivors to convince themselves that everything is/was fine.

That was an important step to healing. I recognized terrible things had happened and I was able to actually start addressing my pain. Part of the healing process for me has been to feel anger towards my family, both for the abuse and for standing by. And that's where I'm at: I don't hate my parents but I have years and years worth of anger, resentment and pain impacting my relationship with them. I'm still working through it but am mentally in a far, far better place.

Trauma can ripple through generations. My parents abused me because they themselves were abused and didn't know a different way to raise me or express their pain. I think a lot more people than we realize suffer from CPTSD. My gut is that it's especially common among high-achieving individuals since many of them were likely forced to perform well as children in order to receive their parents' love. The pandemic has forced everyone to be alone with their own thoughts or confined with family for the first time in a long time and I think it's forcing everyone to confront issues like this.

>It has severely impacted my self-image and self-esteem, my choices in life and the way that I relate to others.

If you would like to share, I would love to hear more about this. My best friend is going through something and many of your points seem to fit.