Why confession of sin privately or to a priest can be counterintuitive (and unscriptural) and it's not what you think

 Okay so having read this title, let me just clarify. I am a Catholic Christian (raised in a variety of fundamentalists churches). The sacrament of confession (reconciliation, penance) is essential to our faith. And I just realized why I've had such a problem with it over the years since converting. Actually there are several reasons. And it's not what you think. And protestant private confession is a problem too. In fact it's even worse. And it's also not for the reasons you think. I will go so far as to say that it's unBiblical done the way most Christians do it. 

We're told by ministers and priests that the reason we don't want to confess sin is that we are arrogant and proud. We don't want to bend our stiff necks. My arrogant narcissist parents loved to attack me with that one (though they never confessed anything they did as wrong. This is important and we'll come back to it) But in my case nothing could be further from the truth. I was always confessing my sin. Because I was told I was at fault for pretty much everything. I took the blame for everyone's bad choices even those in which I was the only one hurt by them. 

I poured out my sins to God as a good little protestant girl. I grieved over them.  My parents would browbeat me with all the ways I was letting them, their new partners and kids, down. So I had a lot to confess, I assumed. Although funnily enough I was never sure exactly what I had done. That part has always been shrouded in the confusion of gaslighting. I just begged God to make me a better person so I could somehow do all they expected of me. Not so they'd love me, mind. I always knew I was pathetically unlovable. 

So initially upon conversion to Catholicism, I loved the sacrament of reconciliation. I confessed all kinds of things I hadn't done that others said I did. I never gave myself the benefit of the doubt or acknowledged that most of the "wrong" I did was after unbearably antagonizing provocation. I  was afraid it would sound like I'm afraid it will sound to you, and what I was told I was doing, just making excuses. I never got any help dealing with those extenuating circumstances. I was just told to do right and not to worry about what others did to me. 

My dad would actually say "it doesn't matter what anyone does to you. You have to be perfect." If I said someone else started it, they'd just say "two wrongs don't make a right" and carry on in their arrogant, irresponsible ways. As I look back, they were the ones drawing first blood persecuting me, expecting outrageously impossible things of me that they never did and then punishing me if I wasn't complying to their unpleasable standards.  

No pressure there. And they themselves set terrible examples holding grudges, blamed everyone else for their choices, claiming forgiveness for sins he'd never confessed and viciously punishing anyone who crossed them.  While I just kept screwing up because I couldn't be perfect (though I will say I did a pretty damn good job trying). And I got more and more suicidal in the frustration of taking it all on myself. If I'm honest, priests have often just perpetuated the gaslighting of my narcissistic parents. 

And that would be bad enough. But then factor in a basic flaw with any kind of confession to someone other than the injured party or just "in private" as protestants call it. A flaw that goes against God's instruction. Simply put,  we're doing it wrong if our sins have wronged another and we only tell God. And all of them do. We say we're sorry, get our absolution and go on our way "cleansed" and free. But we never CONFESS THEM TO THE PEOPLE WE HURT. That's not even built in to any denomination approach. But it should be. 

In fact, I've heard people say, "I don't have to tell anyone else what I did because (wait for it) I told God." If that's not a recipe for arrogant bullies to go on hurting unchecked, I don't know what is. It's also complete anathema to scripture which tells us to go and make it right with the person you wronged. HUMBLE yourself and admit the crap you put them through.  AND they pompously claim to be excused carte blanche because "Jesus died for me" so how dare you question me?? Are you doubting God?? 

Now they have the upper hand, they believe. They can go on doing exactly as they do hurting others but it's all good because Jesus forgives sin. No one can touch them especially not the people they have wronged. All they have to do is say they are forgiven and you have to also. They don't have to mend their ways or even actually apologize. No one can prove they didn't, they think. But we don't have to. They have proved it by their self-righteous, hypocritical entitled and wrong claim of exoneration. And by their complete disobedience to God's command to "confess to one another what you did wrong" and to "leave your gift and go confess to them." And to "go and sin no more."

Jesus has not forgiven them because they have not repented. Even just admitting you did something wrong (and arrogant people won't even do that) is only a start. Without contrition, sorrow, a statement of resolve to stop, actions to do so and making amends (penance) it's not confession. It's a joke. Jesus can forgive the penitent  but not the arrogant. And He doesn't guarantee to remove all earthly consequence, just eternal damnation. If you stole money you'll still be arrested and charged with theft. If you committed adultery, you still will face anger, divorce, etc., confession or not. Jesus may forgive you but that doesn't mean you spouse has to or maybe even should 

He doesn't even remove the consequences OTHERS suffer from our bad behavior. My parents ill-treated me all my life and I have the scars to prove it. I trauma nightmare every single night. I have concomitant health issues: CPTSD, chronic anxiety and fear, shame, structural damage and brain damage from unmanageable stress cortisol, constant triggering of trauma responses and a host of others. No of that was taken away. And they waltz away scot free, feeling completely absolved of sin yet they never once even admitted all the wrong they did to me. Even if they did, even if I "forgave" them (whatever that means) it doesn't heal the scars. 

They talk like it's only God they hurt. So it's only to him they have to confess. God Himself disagrees. We hurt Him by the way we treat each other. That's why the majority of commandments, injunctions, laws, beatitudes and fruits of the spirit focus on our treatment of people. He says that whatever we do to others we do to Him. He wants us to humble ourselves, change our hard hearts and be nice. So confession to God without confession to others especially our victims is making a mockery of God. 

So Catholic confession is better, but still misses the boat if the penitent doesn't address the people he hurt. And all too often, that's not even mentioned. Even the penance doesn't address it.  It's like we who were hurt have to just accept whatever was done (and continues to be done) like it's all good because they went to confession. Or worse yet got "down on their knees before God in their little prayer closet." Neato you told God but you never told the victim.  Now you feel so much better, hurrah. Meanwhile I'm left with all the suffering and knowing you'll probably do it again because you have so many times before. And I'm supposed to keep hoping you'll try harder when you've just been basically told you're good to go.

So confession actually harms the victim more because now they're supposed to forgive like God when they never had even the satisfaction of being humbled to and acknowledged to, how they were hurt. So still, all the work falls to the victim. She has to repeatedly suffer the consequences of others' bad choices, pretend it's not happening, keep rolling over, hoping against hope, trusting, giving a million and one chances to someone who has proved repeatedly that they have no intention of changing. 

She doesn't even get the respect and courtesy of being admitted and confessed to what harm was done to her, what was said in what was confession because of some "seal of the confessional" gaslighting nonsense.  Well I don't think that privacy applies to their victims and I'm pretty sure God doesn't either.  And anyone that would use as an excuse to confront the ones they hurt, is not humble or contrite. They just want the absolution without the work. And then very often, because that person is already arrogant and ungrateful, they are also very unforgiving themselves. They blame other people for their bad choices. I think that's a lot of power to give someone who has not earned it. 

To do the sacrament of reconciliation correctly, the priest should tell the penitent that absolution is conditional on him going to the people he hurt and confessing, apologizing and making amends to them. None of this three Hail Marys business. No disrespect to the Blessed Mother but it wasn't her he harmed either. And I think Our Lady agrees. I think she takes the part of the victims. God says he doesn't want our sacrifices and burnt offerings, but a contrite heart. I know that if I  have wronged someone, you can be darn sure I won't just tell it to a priest or the wall. I go to the one I wronged because I feel sorrow for hurting them. I certainly wouldn't smugly tell them they have to forgive me if I haven't even admitted what I did to them. 

 

Why I drink too much (it's not what you think)

 Hello my friends. Today in my healing from CPTSD work, I'm exploring a bad habit I have of occasionally getting drunk. Here's why I drink too much and it's not what you think. So if you consume too much alcohol, even if you're the nicest, sweetest drunk in the world (like I am) you will very likely get scolded and probably shamed for it. Even just drinking alcohol can earn you disapproval.  There are a surprising number of people who, though keeping their mouths shut on other bad habits (especially their own), feel no qualms about telling you off for drinking, particularly getting "drunk."  It's like drinking is in a protected class from "minding your own business." 

I'm not talking about drinking and driving. That's obviously everyone's business. I'm not talking about ugly drunks who hurt people. I'm not even talking about people who say something because they genuinely care and are worried. (Though even that is a slippery slope. ) I'm talking about people just feeling entitled to comment on a kindly person having what they deem to be too much alcohol. 

You will often hear this censure from Christians because alcohol is their pet sin. They who are violence-loving, TV addicts, adulterous, gossipy, arrogant, power addicts, selfish narcissists, lying, cheating, shopaholics, overspending and in debt, thieving, hypocritical, slothful or any other of the sins listed in the Bible, will pontificate ad nauseum about the evils of drink as if that's the only sin. More often than not, they struggle with sins of gluttony or some other addiction themselves and are obese, prescription pain addicts or weed heads.  They do this because this is the one sin they don't struggle with. They love to preach against it because it keeps the focus off their sins. Which arguably drinking isn't even a sin but more of an unhealthy habit. 

And that is what my dark tetrad (narcissistic, haughty, entitled, remorseless and cruel) parents did to me all my life. They picked apart everything I did while never admitting the egregiously wrong things they did. They lied about me and said I did things I didn't. They called me lazy, selfish and arrogant when this was actually how they acted. They made be believe everything I did was wrong. BUT THEN they were also freakishly controlling of my actions, harshly punitive all while setting terrible examples. 

So I got used to being under their rigid and hypocritical thumbs. And continued doggedly trying to please them and always failing. Which is a further hypocrisy on their part. If they were ordering me around and I was doing all they said, I couldn't also be a failure. The person issuing the instructions would be in the wrong. But I never saw that and fell for their gaslighting double standards every time. 

So how did this lead to over imbibing on the booze? Because it is something I can control. If I'm always going to be accused of sinning, I may as well at least do something I enjoy. And I like wine. And what I enjoy never hurts anyone unlike their horrible addictions to power, control and bullying. My parents sins hurt me and pretty much only me. Oh they'd be quick to say they were the injured parties. But they aren't. 

I got the brunt of everything: their divorce, neglect, physical abuse, refusing to hold down jobs and still making me do all the housework, remarriage, abandoning me, having more kids and then expecting me to take care of all of them (including all the parents), infidelity, cheating, stealing, lying, slander, two-facedness, backstabbing and a host of other wretched actions. I'm very damaged, physically and emotionally, because of it. 

Since I can't make sense of all this cruelty, I try to quell the memories.  I can't wrap my head around how parents could treat their child like this. I dream about it all night long. So a part of why I drink is also to quieten down the stress and horror . To make their nasty, shaming voices a little less "loud." I've tried the antidepressant Paxil and that just make things worse. I'm not saying alcohol is the answer but I do need less pain. It's out of control and I can't manage it. 

I believe that getting some healing is the important thing here. And that's one of many things that the fault-finders don't take into consideration. WHY is a person drinking so much? It's hurting only me in the occasional headache. Perhaps some other physical issues, too. Even in my choice of bad habits, I'm still picking one with consequences only for me. Actually my mom should be grateful as it gives her (in her mind) more to be self-righteous and smug about.  Shouldn't we be more concerned about the pain that led her to it, instead of just wagging their fingers at her? 

Am I saying it's my parents fault I drink too much?  Yeah, in a way. If they'd raised me in a kinder, less self-centered way, if they'd not pinned all their faults on me, if they'd not blame-shifted and made me suicidal with shame, I might not need to shut out these hurtful behaviors. And sometimes it's just because I'm having fun and not feeling miserable for a little while. 

Am I defending my right to drink? Naww, I've never defending much of anything I did wrong even if I hadn't done it. I've been everyone's scapegoat all my life. But I am trying to put it in perspective. For those of you who are truly concerned about me, please, get the right end of the stick. Me having occasionally too much to drink is only the tip of the iceberg. The alcohol may be dangerous but it's the chronic CPTSD that is killing me. 

Different Rules for children vs. adults in relationships with narcissists

 Hello friends. In my quest to heal CPTSD from narcissistic dark tetrad parent abuse, I find a lot of info for adults in relationships with narcissists but very little written for adult children of narcissists (ACON). So I'm trying to correct that. Because rules for helpless children in these toxic and dysfunctional relationships are somewhat different than those for adults who enter willingly into them. No blame or judgement to anyone. Just fact. 

First thing, pretty much all advice on relationships with narcissists is predicated on the idea that adults have control over who they choose to be with. Children, of course, do not. So adults have tools and resources available to them that kids don't. In fact some of the actions recommended to adults would be dangerous let alone pretty much impossible for children to do. 

We can't just walk out. Where would we go? We can't tell anyone because they have gaslit us into thinking that all the vindictive, selfish, controlling, manipulative and cruel things they do are normal. Or that no one would believe us if we did tell. Which of course is a contradiction: if they are doing nothing wrong, why would our story not be accepted? However we don't get that till we're adults and the window for help has closed.

Pity that. It would have only taken one caring, responsive adult. They might not have saved us from it but they could have shaved off years of CPTSD recovery helping us see that it wasn't our fault. That this was NOT normal, healthy loving parenting but dark tetrad exploitation and abuse. But then no one talks to kids about the neglect and harm they are experiencing. No one wants to know. And everyone defends the parents: they didn't know better, didn't want to interfere, were helpless, yada yada. So grownups with resources to help left a  truly helpless kid to deal alone. 

So I digress. But it does underscore my point that adults have options kids don't. They can call out wrong that they see. They have options if they choose to stay. They can do things like grey rocking (ignoring, playing dumb).  If a child ignored or disengaged from the dark tetrad parent there would be hell to pay. If the child even knew she could which most of us didn't. Adults can separate and divorce  from each other. Kids can't. 

And actually my narcissistic parents' divorce made life 2x worse for me. They left me to deal with this alone and waltzed off only to pick up with equally selfish people whom they parentified me to and made me slave for as well. But if you don't know that parents are supposed to be loving not hateful, you certainly don't know that "stepparents" are supposed to be as well. You just accept that now you have four bullying bossy control freaks to deal with instead of just two. 

Some other bits of advice that kids easily misunderstand and get wrong because parents twist them, is 1) not to personalize the narcissists' attacks and 2) don't JADE (justify, answer, defend or explain). That sounds good in theory but dark tetrad parents completely eff this up for kids. They WANT their kids to personalize their attacks. They call their self-righteous, hypocritical, self-serving bullying "discipline" and woe to any child who doesn't heed his parent's correction, right? In fact, if you don't take their chastisement personally they call you disobedient and they up their game, making attacks more insidious, vicious and personal. If you cry, you're being too sensitive and can't take criticism. But if you don't grovel and fawn, you're being arrogant and proud. There is no fucking winning with these shitty people. 

And about the JADE. This actually works well for adults in  narcissistic relationships but for kids, it's impossible and dangerous. Just like narcissistic parents demand you take their criticisms personally, they demand justification and explanation. They stand you in a corner and fire accusations and lies at will. If you do defend yourself, they then fault, shame, blame shift and punish you. But you'd better offer it just the same or you're not taking them seriously. If you stay quiet, you're "showing off" and being "arrogant" and if you answer you're "talking back" or "sassing" or (my  mother's favorite) "being lippy." ( I can't hear that phrase without wanting to retch. Or hit something.). It's a Catch-22 that kids like me have been in so often that we are brain damaged from all the stress, gaslighting and abuse cortisol. We're damned if we do and damned if we don't. 

Advice to get counseling may work  great for an adult but good luck to children. A narcissistic parent is not going to pay someone to tell her child that she is being abused. And then there are the flying monkey "counselors" (often "Christian") who aid the parent's gaslighting by telling the child  that what the parent is doing is fine and that God calls the child to obey them.

My dad and his wife did get counseling for me. But only to prove what a bad child I was. These venomously angry people who hated each other, said that I needed anger management. Like that was  going to fix the mess they  made of their lives. They sent me to a minister so he would shame me into what I don't know. I was so overly subservient, obedient and even  obsequious already. I already felt worthless and suicidal.  I let them scapegoat me into taking all their problems on myself. So I don't know what further shame he could have wreaked on me. 

It's funny, I don't have a clear recollection of what we talked about or what he said. I have a vague notion it was something like me not acting like this rebellious kid I was painted to be. And maybe even something about me being the injured party. But I wouldn't have heard that through their FOG (fear, obligation and guilt) fog. And the parents would have made sure I didn't hear of it if  he'd confronted them. I do know I wasn't taken back. And he probably did give them a talking to because they only got worse after my visit. Still, I hope he did chew them out. It didn't do me any good but it gives me great pleasure to imagine their machinations coming back to bite them. Is that vindictive? AF and proud of it. 

Because that's another rule that doesn't apply to kids of narcissists. Adults are told not to be vindictive, that somehow the universe will sort them in the end. Umm, not sure about that but I know from a child's perspective, you have to be vindictive. Not that you punish or hurt them. That won't make you feel better BUT you do have vindicate yourself. They will define your self-care as punishing them because they want to keep you sick and enslaved to them. So you have to define for yourself what vindictive means. To me, it's putting the blame and responsibility for their behavior back where it belongs, on them. You have to stop shielding them from consequences of their choices and taking the guilt on yourself. If that means they are arrested for child abuse or neglect, well, that's logical consequences. 

So what should children do who live under the tyranny of narcissistic dark tetrad parents? Find a trusted person and tell them. If you're not sure it's abuse, ask someone. Look at how other kids around you live. You may not know all that goes on behind closed doors but you can see if their parents love them or use them. 

My parents' and their partners' behavior put up SOOOOO many red flags I was stumbling over them. It was patently obvious to everyone but me that my life was very broken. My one grandmother tried to help but the rest buried their heads in the sand. For being so ultrareligious they didn't  have the courage to confront or help me. Which is probably a big part of how my parents got so entitled and irresponsible and above it all. Unchecked arrogance is a wildfire that destroys everything in its path. Especially the poor little kids. 

And to adults who witness kids being treated like this, you may not be able to fix it for them but that shouldn't stop you at least reaching out in love. Acknowledge their feelings and admit that you see the problems too. Remind them it's not their fault and that you love them. As I've said before, it would have only taken one supportive person to make a difference in my life. 

Rules shell-shocked kids of dark tetrad parents need to break in order to heal

 Hello it's me again with more on healing narcissistic dark tetrad parent abuse (if that's actually possible). Today I'm adding to my previous lists of rules shell-shocked kids of dark tetrad parents need to break in order to begin healing. Most of them are going to fly in the face of  "received wisdom." You will most likely be scolded on some level if you actually put them into practice. But they are critical nonetheless. 

And on that note, you always have to ask yourself, if someone is scolding you, what is their angle? What are they getting out of shaming you? Because healthy adults don't find fault with other adults. They just don't. They live their lives and mind their own business. If someone is causing them problems they find mature adult ways to deal with it. Self-righteous scolding, shaming, censuring, especially if they are hypocritically doing the things they're scolding others for, are not those ways. 

They don't shame children either. They guide by example. They help. They do themselves, mind their own business and deal with the board in their own eye. But that's what our dysfunctional and dark tetrad parents never did. They humiliated and scorned us. They blamed us for their bad choices. They were raging hypocrites with endless double standards. You don't have to show up for shaming. You can just walk away. So on to the rule-breaking. That's the first one. 

Ignore "helpful" advice that hurts. Read the red flags it's putting up. Learn to recognize the smug, self-righteous shaming it is. Even if it just feels a little blame-shaming. If you've lived with cruel, manipulative, arrogant, psychopathic dark tetrads, you've lived with enough of that already. In fact, you probably are so used to it that you don't see it for the abuse it is. 

Retaliate. Yes I just said that and I didn't stutter. You will hear that it's wrong, that you're lowering yourself to their standards, yada yada. That two wrongs don't make a right and other toxic positivity. You've probably told yourself to be the bigger person because you've heard this nonsense for so long. But the people who are saying such tripe have not lived under a dark tetrad parent's reign of terror. What they are preaching are rules of engagement for fair fights which this is not.  Sometimes the only way to stop destructive behavior is to fight fire with fire. To burn bridges and then get the hell out of Dodge. But having said that, 

Define terms yourself. And so as you might imagine, what you'll hear is retaliating actually isn't. What I mean by it is to fight back and quit rolling over for abuse. Get out of the path of Hurricane Dark Tetrad and seek shelter. Cut them out of your life as soon as is humanly possible. You will be told by them and their flying monkeys that this is cruel punishment. Because they want you enslaved to them and hating yourself. They get off on your misery. So pay them back by, 

Trust yourself. See the red flags for what they are. We poor kids of dark tetrad parents have been hoodwinked into thinking we are broken and should not trust ourselves. That we should let them push us around and hurt us because they're entitled to. All my life I've driven my little life car right past barricades and stop signs into hellish danger. BECAUSE THEY TOLD ME TO. They groomed me to hurt myself and let others hurt me. My husband has marveled at how much pain I endured without even realizing what they were doing. 

Disrespect and disobey them. They aren't your parents if they are hurting you. They are nasty, exploitative bullies. Real loving parents protect their children from people like this. Respecting them is disrespecting yourself. Obeying their haughty demands is harming you. Being disloyal to dangerous people is a good thing. 

Break confidences. Don't keep their dirty secrets anymore. Tell your side of the story.  Get help.  And if the first person you tell doesn't listen, keep talking till you find someone who does. If they gaslight you, cut them out too. Tell a compassionate person that too, that you tried to get help and were shamed for it. I'm better at telling you than doing it myself. Because it's too late for me. I just powered through and kept it all inside where it toxified into suicidal self-shaming and gaslighting. But please, don't wait till you're 60 years old to get out and get help. If you need someone to tell you that you deserve better, please let it be me.

Be vindictive. Vindicate means to make right. To clear someone of blame. These boundary crashers have been trampling all over you and your right to love and care. They've blamed you for their bad actions. They've stolen your personhood and cheated you out of all good things. Get your own self back. Put them in their place and get them out of yours. Take back what they took. Vindicate yourself by setting right what they wronged. 

Punish them. Again, it's not actual punishment. That's what they'll whine that you're doing but it's actually just holding them accountable to consequences of their behavior. It's not tolerating or cleaning up their messes anymore. The only way to stop them is to stop them. If they're depriving you, tell someone. If they've stolen from you, demand it back. Take them to court if need be. If they're abusing you, tell someone who can help you and and enforce those consequences. One of the many abusive things my mom and stepdad did was to kick me out at 16. And continue living off my child support. I spent my life thinking I deserved it. I didn't. And I should have told someone in authority because they'd have done the things I couldn't about it. And if they couldn't fix it, at least they'd have reassured me that it wasn't my fault, that parents can't legally and shouldn't morally evict minor kids. They'd have saved me some of the shame.

There are more rules to break but I've exhausted myself. Suffice it to say that most of what we've learned or been told by dark tetrad parents and their flying monkeys, was wrong. So doing the opposite is usually a safe bet. 

. 

Healing from dark tetrad parent abuse means doing wrong and breaking rules

 Hello my dear friends. I'm working to heal CPTSD from a lifetime of abuse and neglect by narcissistic dark tetrad parents. And today I'm exploring how getting myself better means breaking rules and doing wrong and breaking rules. Yes I said do wrong intentionally. Not harm, wrong. Normal rules of right and wrong, good and bad didn't apply to us. We were told right was wrong and allowing bad things to happen to us was right and good. We lived with chaos, abuse, exploitation, neglect. We were raised by cruel, arrogant, self-centered, manipulative, hostile bullies not parents. These people subjected us to abnormal double standards. And since conventional rules didn't apply, we can't be held to conventional expectations. We have to go against traditional behavioral expectations. We can't afford to continue trying to live by one set of rules while being subjected to completely different ones. It fragments us and fractures our minds trying to live in two worlds simultaneously.

In order to make any kind of headway in the fight against CPTSD and childhood trauma, we have to do things we were taught were wrong. We have to stop doing their selfish version of right because it's wrong and is killing us. We have to break rules and glass ceilings. We have to break free from the crippling bondage of narcissistic parent enmeshment and enslavement. We have to rebel against sick and dangerous demands and expectations. We have to reconceive preconceived notions about right and wrong. We have to reinvent ourselves, our trauma responses, our behavior to healthier, saner and safer. 

How do we do this? Well, it's a Herculean task for sure. Here are some things I've begun doing to that end but they are only the beginning.

Question everything. Consider that because so many things they said were deceitful lies, everything was fallacy. 

Challenge everything. Re-examine everything we learned at the hands of these bullies. 

Fight and keep fighting. Fight with all our might against every wicked, nasty thing they groomed us to do, gaslit us into believing, conned us into accepting, allowed to happen to us, stood by while we suffered and inflicted on us. 

Disobey. Dark tetrad parents sell you a bill of goods that obedience to them is the be-all-end-all. In my case that meant not only blind, dumb enslavement to my biological parents but both of their new, equally selfish, demanding, arrogant and screwed up partners. They actually equated subservience to them as obedience to God. As if they were gods. So now I have to disobey them (and their voices in my head) to get myself to a healthier place and to obey the real God who says have no other gods before me. 

Throw the baby out with the bath water. Because so many things they did to us were vindictive, self-indulgent, spiteful and hurtful, we have to accept that maybe it all was. We have to discard everything and start over from scratch. 

Quit sorting the non-existent pepper from the fly crap. We've been shamed by our parents and even by society that "they're your parents. There must have been some good times." As if that would make up for years of abuse. So we've searched our minds and hearts for those little crumbs that weren't there. We accepted unacceptable as our lot in life. 

Blame them. We're told blame is wrong. But all our lives they blamed us for their problems. They lied and said we did bad things we didn't. They nitpicked and found fault  with us and excused and exonerated themselves in outrageously awful behavior. They put the spotlight on us so we'd be hypervigilant and focus only on all the bad we were supposedly doing and ignore all the bad they were actually doing. We don't have the luxury of observing the niceties anymore. We've suffered under the mantle of unearned blame and it's killing us.  If blame is being apportioned, it's time to put the responsibility back where it belongs. 

Be disloyal. They were never loyal to us. They humiliated, ridiculed and sucker punched us. But we have been told that two wrongs don't make a right so we have to be loyal despite  they're being so disloyal. We have to "be the change" be dependable, be what they aren't,  in hopes of, what? Making selfish adults act responsibly? Is that going to somehow compensate for their betrayal of us? In their minds, yes. They literally believe that they can do whatever they want. They are entitled to take credit for all the good we do. They live through us. They bind us to rules they don't follow.  They reap the benefits of what we have sown. And us allowing this and doggedly persevering in giving them good,  only reinforces their entitlement. We have to break promises and quit making them to dishonest, backstabbing people. 

Break faith. We have to stop being so reliable and trustworthy to people who are reliably unreliable, unavailable, unapproachable, untrustworthy and faithless to us. People who told us we were untrustworthy when we were too trustworthy and too trusting. Too dependable. Too available. To those Who never showed up for us. We have to stop throwing good money after bad. We have to start showing up for ourselves. 

Jet it. Cut ties to people who've bound us to them and then cut us adrift when it suited. When something is broken beyond repair sometimes you have to let it go. We've been in the relationship salvage business far too long. When there was no relationship to salvage. There was only hurt and suffering for us. We can no longer afford to waste years of our life trying to fix what they broke. We owe them nothing. End of. 

I know, it's exhausting. I'm tired just thinking about it. 

Dealing with immature adult behavior by relearning childhood trauma responses

 Hello my friends! I'm on vacation visiting seven of our 12 grandchildren. My partner doesn't do vacations well at the best of times. The addition of a lot of clamoring children doesn't help. Don't get me wrong. He's hard-working, loving and good with the kids. He does not do stress well. And as we all know vacations are one big stress package deal. Which he has gotten accustomed to leaving me to deal with. And then often whining, yes actually pouting and throwing a tantrum like a petulant preteen about choices and decisions he has left me to make. Or about circumstances beyond my control that I'm trying to fix under pressure. Like a flight delay and having to decide whether to get on another flight to avoid missing a connection. 

He weaponizes incompetence, pretending not to have heard people or understand what they are talking about. And then demands that I explain to him slowly in teeny tiny baby steps using the voice I would use for a child and being completely patient with him. All while trying to navigate airline customer support, waiting on hold, trying to understand them, dealing with unhelpful gate agents, switching flights and then gates, figuring out boarding passes etc.  He gets petulant with me over gate agent's intractable or rude behavior but doesn't address them. He claims to be upset with her but takes it out on me and is sweet as pie to her. 

He whines that he "doesn't get it" and then demands that I go over it again. He interrupts to ask stupid questions (yes there are stupid questions) as I'm on the phone trying to sort the mess out.  I don't understand what the hell I am doing let alone being capable of explaining it to him who goes out of his way to be obtuse, decrying technology and how things were better in the olden days. Of which he knows nothing because he was never in an airport when he was young let alone on an airplane. 

Then factor in them not sending us a boarding pass and the nasty gate agent refusing to give me one when I can prove to her that I have tickets. She tells me to just get in the wait to get it sorted line while she is literally boarding the plane we are supposed to be on. She is clearly not dealing with the people in line which is for people who don't have tickets who  are just trying to get on this plane and who won't let us in line to just get the freaking boarding pass because they want our seats. Husband obediently does as gate agent says and yells at me to also get in her "go nowhere" line. As the plane flies off without us. Fortunately or not, I'm loudmouthed and keep pestering till another gate agent comes over, sees we have tickets, prints them as she's telling him not to let anyone else on. We make it just as the gates are about to close. (I did permit myself a smirk of satisfaction to hear him scolding her as we scoot past for not helping us.)

This happened to several of us by the way. We only got on this second flight because I don't back down. At least six people were left in the same predicament as the plane flew away. And husband is still nagging me to ask what we are supposed to do as I'm almost dragging him down the loading tunnel. And is still arguing with me. As if he knows anything all about what is going on. He who has paid no attention, stuck his head in the sand and feigned ignorance, who loudly proclaimed that he doesn't get it and harassed me to keep explaining it when he has no intention of trying to understand, is perfectly confident to quarrel with me about how to handle it. We probably would still be sitting at the airport a week later if it were up to him. LOL. 

When we finally get on the plane, he's suddenly all rosy sunshine because he got his way. He got to act like a entitled, spoiled brat and Mommy fixed it for him. There were no consequences for his actions. His happy ass was  not left sitting at the airport as his behavior warranted (and has warranted in times past). And not only that he got to preen himself that he was actually helpful because he asked ex post facto, if he could do anything to help. After being a completely useless thorn in my side who only made a terrible situation worse. 

So that is just one example narcissistic and immature adult behavior which would be difficult enough to deal with. But add to it that I was raised by narcissistic dark tetrad parents who behaved immaturely and irresponsibly toward me. Who parentified me and made me as a child take care of them, their new partners after they divorced and their new kids, as if I were the parent. In short, I'm used to catering to selfish,  manipulative, arrogant, demanding, backstabbing childish adults. I default to placating, humoring and fixing everyone's self-made problems. And am punished for the privilege. 

So, now, where does that leave me now. Still humoring and placating. Still solving their problems. It's all I know. And I gaslit myself because they have gaslit me, that I'm letting everyone down if I don't wait on them hand and foot. That I'm a worthless, nuisance failure unless I'm serving. And even all the serving and caregiving isn't good enough because they are so demanding, lazy and entitled that nothing ever satisfies them. They made me believe that there's always room for improvement when I was doing something. They found fault with every choice I  made. They instructed and pontificated on shit they knew nothing about. They said I was attention-seeking if I asked for approval (which was never forthcoming). They groomed me to think they owed me nothing. That I was the one being selfish if I expected basic care that all children need, from them. That I owed them everything. The double standards were off the charts outrageous. 

And I brought all those dysfunctional-in-normal-life but critical for survival of chaotic life trauma responses with me. I kept on placating, humoring and caregiving adults. And husband got very used to expecting it. So does this  mean I brought this on myself. That I showed him how to treat me and he's just doing what I allow? No. Healthy, kind adults don't treat people badly no matter how much the person might be willing to allow. Healthy, kind adults feel empathy and compassion for abused traumatized people and treat them better than they've come to expect because of it. Adults take responsibility for their actions and choices. They do not blame-shift, find fault with, manipulate and take advantage of others' generosity or care. They help other people be their best selves. They do not do things that trigger harmful coping responses of others. 

And that is what my husband does. Maybe without realizing it, I don't know. But he exploits all my weaknesses and pokes all my sore spots when the mood strikes.  I will say at his worst he's never been as bad as what they were at their best. And if you thought, after reading the airport nightmare that they must have been pretty bad, you would be right. Because he, at some point, will realize that how awful his behavior and admit it and they never did. He's never cruel or nasty. But that doesn't make it any easier. Because regardless, he is still taking advantage of me and causing me to respond in ways he knows I will to give him what he wants.  

But I also can't wait for someone else to stop being demanding, manipulating and exploiting me. I have to find a way to stop trauma responding, accepting unacceptable behavior, humoring adults like children and enabling him to continue. If he won't treat me better, I have to treat me better. Having said all that, I'm not entirely sure how to do that. I think it begins with allowing logical consequences and not being a human bumper. And ignoring the whining and just carrying on doing what I believe is best. If he makes a fool of himself, I can't help it. I think I need to stop JADE-justifying, arguing, defending and explaining. 

I need to accept that just because he asks a question doesn't mean I have to have an answer or even give one. I get to choose what I do just as others choose what they do. I don't  have to be perfect to compensate for others' atrocious behavior. If he doesn't like it, oh well. I can't  help that.  Just because he needs something doesn't mean I have to provide it unless it is in my best interests also and not just to keep the peace. There will never be peace with people like this. And peace at any price is no peace at all.  I have to do me.  I have to take care of  myself. I  have to help myself. If in so doing it helps someone else, fine. But this helping others by hurting myself, this giving away too much and receiving too little, must stop. I don't know how but  it has too because I can't, won't and should not tolerate any more. It is death by a thousand cuts. 

Healing relationships by rooting out CPTSD triggers from dark tetrad parent abuse

 Hello my friends! I have some good news to share from the healing CPTSD front. I got in a fight with my husband. LOL so how's that good news, you're asking. It's a step forward for me because I realized that it was triggered by memories of abuse by my narcissistic dark tetrad parents. And by rooting out those triggers, I was able to understand how I completely misunderstood what my husband was saying. I heard his words as my dad and mom, stepmom and stepdad would have said them which was harsh, judgmental, hypocritical and shaming. 

I realize that I have done this all throughout our time together. I have played out the childhood trauma drama on the stage of our relationship because it was safer than dealing with my perpetrator parents. I  have allowed (maybe even forced) myself to think that the problems were with me and husband by association because that's what my parents always said. They found all kinds of fault with me and then when I married, us. There was constant criticism and little affirmation. I see now that this was to keep me focused on my failings (real or invented) and then hypervigilant and anxious. And not paying attention to how awful they were to me. Also husband was safer to fight with.  He loves me,  has my best interests at heart and wants unity. We are evenly matched. They didn't want the best for me. They were enmeshed, arrogant, self-centered, exploitative, sadistic and cruel bullies. 

It was never a fair fight with them. They backstabbed, ambushed, humiliated, blame-shifted, manipulated, triangulated, scapegoated and punished. I know that  NOW. I didn't then. I just thought I was the fault and they were right to do any abusive thing they wanted. So I just gave in and let them. And so today, I'm exploring how critical it is in healing both CPTSD and relationship issues, to source and examine the narcissistic dark tetrad parents abuse triggers. 

So in the recent fight, my husband and I were discussing some political issues. I made a statement of beliefs which my husband has also made. But he seemed to immediately contradict them when I said it and then scold me for saying it. Like it was okay for him to do and say these things but not me. That's what I heard because that is exactly how my parents and their partners have always treated me: with scorn, derision and shaming for things I said or did. EVEN things they themselves said and did. 

If I did something "wrong" (which I have to put in quotes because I'm not sure now if it was wrong or just them saying it was to humiliate me) they would seize on it and make a federal case out of it. They would publicly mock and embarrass me. They looked for things to criticize me for. They lied and said I did things I didn't. Even though they did the same things to me. I was blamed, belittled and attacked for things they approved their other kids doing. There were two very different sets of rules and the double standards were off the charts. 

So when my  husband seemed to do this to me it felt very familiar. Not comfortable mind you. It set off all the old feelings of shame, frustration, confusion, self-disgust and anxiety. And some new ones that I'd only just recognized as always being there but  not being safe to show: righteous anger, resentment and exasperation. I told him I'm sick of being told off, told I'm wrong all the time. I'm not a child who needs discipline. I've had enough of being patronized, condescended to, purposely misunderstood. I'm tired of my motives being questioned and undermined, of what I say being twisted.  I've had it with being corrected, like I'm too stupid to think for myself or hold my own ideas. Especially when I'm saying the same thing he is. 

And then it hit me. That's exactly what I want to say to these people who call themselves my parents. It's not him, it's them. I have had enough of their nonsense for a long time now. I hate how it's made me a cringing, fearful, groveling people pleaser. I loathe how it's robbed my confidence, identity and self-esteem. I despise how all their shaming has rendered me unable to protect myself. And I thought, enough is enough. It ends here. 

And then that led me to realize how I've often misunderstood him because I'm so accustomed to being  mistreated. I'm used to being second-guessed, blamed, faulted, set up, betrayed and used. I realized that I'm used to it because it happened all the time. It's all I know and I just expect it. When I stopped to re-examine what he actually said, I was shocked at how wrong I'd gotten it. He was saying just the opposite of what I thought. I had cut him off because I just couldn't take one more hypocritical attack. Once I let him explain it all made perfect sense. He was agreeing and affirming me but since criticism is all I know, I just assumed he was faulting me too. And sadly but also somewhat happily I see that I've done this all our life. I'm happy I finally got it but sad it took me 43 years to do so. Such is the brain damage of CPTSD.  

Things we were told were wrong but which are right to do when we're overwhelmed

Hi friends. I was working in my garden today and suddenly I felt overwhelmed, overheated, exhausted and defeated. The weeds seemed too much. The ants are riding herd. And I felt done in. So today, maybe for the first time ever, I did something the voices in my head say is wrong but felt right. I quit. I went in the house, sat in the cool and decided to compose a post for us on things we've been told are wrong but which are actually helpful things to do when we're at our wits end. 

Quit. Holler "Uncle!!" Give up and give in to the helplessness. Surrender. We've been told that quitting is the coward's way. That giving up is makes us weak. That halting is being lazy and selfish. That surrendering is taking the easy way out. That giving in is coping out. And? You're point? So what if someone thinks I'm lazy, weak and a coward? I'm also healthier, saner, more at peace and actually a better person by not fighting a losing battle. 

Maybe tomorrow I'll feel stronger. Maybe in 15 minutes. Who knows? Who cares? One thing I know is that the world is not going to come screeching to a halt if some weeds exist and ants are let to live. But problem is, that's what I've always been told and now tell myself. If I "fail" to do something someone (even the voice in my head) tells me to, I'm a failure. If I don't slog on, I "let someone down" and I'm worthless. Then this gives them the right to abuse me anyway the wish because I deserve no better. Not jumping to comply with my parents was unspeakable wickedness. Even though they were pretty lazy, weak, demanding, cowardly, selfish and exploitative themselves. 

Because here's the kicker. We have been told those things BY THE VERY PEOPLE IN WHOSE BEST INTEREST IT IS FOR US TO KEEP STRUGGLING. That we have to keep trying, helping, waiting on, working and driving ourselves mad with anxiety. People who do not serve others or even care for themselves but expected us to serve and cater to them. They conned us into thinking that quitting was some kind of mortal sin. As they quit, dropped the ball and took the lazy, selfish way out with us all our lives. 

People who move in and take over your life. Who make themselves to home, don't lift a finger to help, trash the place, take themselves out to lunch and then demand to know when you'll be serving dinner because "they're hungry." And me coming home exhausted from work, hauling myself up to go make dinner for these entitled people who are lounging around doing nothing. And who have the audacity to complain about the meals I serve. 

Or other people who are so "prostrate with exhaustion" from doing nothing that you have do their work for them, clean their house, do their laundry, make and clean up supper, mind their kids so they can continue to rest. I laugh when I remember my step mom, issuing instructions from the couch, too "faint" to get up and move. And my dad, too lazy to tend to her himself, dumping it all on me. How are you so exhausted? You haven't done a damn thing! I'm the one who's crippled with pain, hungry and tired. But it's all down to who gets their version in first, I guess. 

But today, here's me doing something different. Here's me confronting instead of complying. You're hungry? Go get us all something to eat. And shame on you for not offering and for taking yourself out and not bringing something to share. And get your dirty shoes off my couch. And here's the dish rag, soap's in the cupboard. And you're tired? Welcome to my world. My back is killing me from dancing attendance on you. Get up off your fat ass, shut off the TV and quit eating yourself to death. I won't be your live-in-maid-nanny-cook-bottle washer anymore. 

So those are conversations with the voices in my head. It doesn't matter if I ever actually have them because I've gone super low contact and won't need to. And so it's just weeds and ants I'm standing up to (or should I say backing down to lol). I'm doing what is best for me. And sometimes that is giving up and giving in. Not that I'll never try again. I'm just listening to my body right now and letting it guide me instead of pushing it till I'm ill. And I'm surrendering to my Higher Power. I'm letting go and letting God. 

Does that mean I leave a bunch of work for others? Nope. Does that mean I expect someone else to wait on me? Of course not. But the ironic thing is that now that I'm in healthier relationships with a family of my own, they do care for  me and pick up the slack. And I don't expect it. I appreciate it. Critical difference. 

And Yup, when you say "I quit" you'll hear (from those bossypants exploitive takers) stuff like "Giving up? That's wrong! When the going gets tough, the tough get going." And indeed I am. I'm both tough and I'm getting going to a happier, healthier, safer place for me, away from pushy, self-centered control freaks. I'm taking back charge of my life. I control me. They may have had done when I was young but they don't now. I just gave in an let them push me around. I let them guilt me into bowing to their commands. But now I call the shots about what I will and will not feel obligated to do. 

If they need something bad enough, they'll find a way to get it. I really don't care how, only that it's not at my expense anymore. If they can find other people to exploit, well, I'm sorry for those people. I hope they get out too. But I have no control over that. 

It's sad it has to be this way. I didn't ask for this. I deserved better. And I'm a loving, giving person. I enjoy doing for others. But not when it's expected, not appreciated and never reciprocated. It was just me doing all the giving and them taking advantage of that. So now I choose who I'll give to. And that will be to grateful people who appreciate and don't demand it. 

This shaming and exploiting has to stop somewhere and since I know they never will, I have to. Fortunately and thanks be to God, I have a loving, generous caring partner encouraging me to end it. Self-sacrifice is great when it's received correctly. If it becomes expectation and taken for granted, no. That is good for no one. 

Strange behaviors and physical deformities from dark tetrad parent abuse

 Hi friends. Piggybacking on my last post, I'm sharing strange physical behaviors and deformities I exhibit from dark tetrad parent abuse. I lived with four dark tetrad parents who were arrogant, narcissistic, exploitative, manipulative, bullying and cruel. And here are trauma coping responses I have developed as a result. 

Facial grimaces. I constantly clamp my jaw and grit my teeth because I'm nervous and anxious. I've worn my teeth down from doing this. I do it because I'm always on alert for random punishment and humiliation. I think I do this to steel myself to ward off attacks. And because I've been conditioned to ignore red flags and power through parent-caused chaos. I've been groomed to accept and function within totally unacceptable behavior. 

I don't walk I tiptoe. I stand on the sides of my feet and never dare to put them flat on the floor. I point my toes in. So I don't take up too much space or get in someone's way. I'm always prepared for flight. I might have to jump to do something so I'm kind of like an uncoordinated mongoose, always ready to rush in to serve. 

I'm uncoordinated, clumsy and slump and walk bent. I crumple myself into the smallest shape possible. I sit on the edge of chairs. I keep small. I twist myself into a pretzel to do whatever it is anyone expects of me. I have lugged too  heavy of loads for too long and damaged my spine as a result. I have slept too much in cramped, cold, crowded uncomfortable places. 

I walk and talk in my sleep. I snore and cry out. This is from being made to co-sleep with babies and children. So their parents weren't disturbed. I had to be on alert at night like a parent since around age 10. My room and bed have been given away and I've been shuffled into closets and unheated porches.. I've been evicted and had to sleep rough and make do. I trauma dream all night long. 

I hurt all the time from early onset arthritis in hips, back, shoulders and neck. I had shoulder surgery and all kinds of unexpected damage showed up that I've just learned to live with. 

I'm now retraining myself now to take up space and inhabit my place fully. I'm trying to learn that I deserve comfort. I'm working to rewrite dreams in which I talk back and fight back. To refuse to do all the nonsensical things I had to as a kid. 

Weird CPTSD Panic responses caused by dark tetrad parent abuse

 Hello my friends. On my quest to heal CPTSD (complex childhood post traumatic stress disorder) from a lifetime of abuse by four narcissistic parents, I'm looking at weird panic responses that dark tetrads (manipulative, narcissistic, entitled, arrogant and sadistic) instill in their kids. These are caused by the constant fear, anxiety and stress their chaotic, neglectful, abusive, excessively punitive, humiliating, malicious, exploitative, risky and dangerous behavior causes.  Dark tetrads are vicious, pathologically jealous, backstabbing and deceitful. Life with them is frightening and exhausting. Life for the child of dark tetrad parents is hell on earth. Here are some panic responses I've developed over the years that I only at 60 began to understand as originating from my parents' treatment of me. 

I'm hypervigilant. I constantly look over my shoulder and expect punishment and shame. I flinch and startle at the smallest sounds. I hear scolding and criticism where it doesn't exist. And where it does, I immediately feel shame and quickly amend whatever I'm doing to please them. I even dream I expected to do all sorts of things without resources and am scrambling to meet them. It is so wearying. 

I'm a chameleon. I take the Bible injunction to be all things to all people too literally. I act how I think other people expect me to. I ignore whatever I think, need or feel in favor of honoring their wishes. This includes matching my face, words and actions to placate and obey. I've caught  myself doing this in my selfie cam of all places. Whenever anyone in my environment does or says anything, I automatically jump nervously and arrange my face accordingly. I fawn, laugh at stupid jokes I don't find funny. I smooth feathers, pour oil on waters I didn't trouble and generally twist myself into a pretzel to give my best approximation of what they seem to want of me. 

I'm obedient and subservient which is bad enough in a child but absolutely dysfunctional in an adult. Adult relationships should not be characterized by one person demanding, bossing, lording it over while the other kowtows and hop through hoops to please. In fact, adults should not have expectations for each other in general. They should collaborate and cooperate. I just comply and compromise everything to suit others. And my sanity and self-esteem are compromised as a result.  

I'm too biddable, too accommodating, too agreeable. I'm always seeking to keep the peace, which is ridiculous because there is no peace, never has been and never will be any with dark tetrads. They thrive on conflict. They polarize, choose up sides, ambush and create problems for their victims. I have spent my life putting out fires my dark tetrad parents purposely started. 

I am more comfortable with unfair double standards than with healthier balance. I don't like living with two sets of rules, one for me and one for thee but it's familiar and all I've ever known. I don't know if I actually believe this is right. I think on some level I know it's not. But it's too much work to fight it. Dark tetrads are so determined to be large and in charge. They steamroll anyone who stands up to them. They bury them in shame and scorn.  

I'm tired all the time. The slightest effort seems too much because dark tetrads have worn down my resources. They have punished me for practicing any kind of self-care. Their constant and shifting demands have left me exhausted. Their bizarrely chaotic, hypocritical and hurtful behavior has wounded and crippled me. I have a damaged spine and hips from years of overwork and neglect. 

Does all this get better or easier to bear? Will I ever heal? No. You can't heal a broken spirit or replaces drained resources any more than you can regrow amputated legs. What does get better is that by understanding what happened and saying out loud that it did, I can begin to  move forward with healthier responses. 

Bizarre things dark tetrad parents do to destroy their kids

Hey friends. Today in the quest to heal CPTSD from narcissistic parent abuse, I'm looking at more bizarre things dark tetrad parents do to damage their kids. And it has to do with the ickiest of the icky, sexual abuse. Just so you know, I've only just remembered some of this stuff and/or realized what it was at 60 years old. I was helped in this by a Youtube search on how toxic parents are sexually off with their kids. So there's not a lot out there. And I wasn't surprised because some of this is so sick that 1) you can't make it up 2) you NEVER want to think about it let alone talk about it 3) it wasn't safe to and 4) it may not even be allowed on Youtube. We poor kids are so damaged by these twisted deviants that we can't even get help processing it because it's verboten to address.  

Some have approached the subject of dark tetrads but not in the depth I needed. And not as a child of such people. Most have little experience and will just say that dark tetrads are so disturbing that you should run not walk as far away from them as you can. Welcome to my world. And easier said than done for a kid. Then there's a lot of talk about positivity and rising above, yada yada. Sounds great unless you were  groomed from infancy to be their property. If they enmeshed in you like parasites and punished you for being a person of your own. 

What the lack of discussion around dark tetrad parents tells me is that their abuse is so outrageously perverted that even psychologists have no frame of reference for it. But thankfully, I found one psychologist talking about it. It takes only one. More is better. And it was as if she had lived my life with me. Come to find out (and this is incredibly helpful to know) that even in their degradation, they share pattern behaviors. And one of which is around concepts of body image and sexuality. 

Both  my parents, and then their new partners, were off sexually. They were immaturely vain and competitive about looks. It was so prevalent that I got used to it. But I never liked it. I hated anything to do with "it." See, I can't even find a word to describe the ick. "Inappropriate and adult" hardly cuts it. Gross, nauseating, revolting, depraved might be better. It was as if they went out of their way to ruin normal healthy things for me. Oh wait...

That's exactly what they did. The way the therapist explains it (and I so appreciated her using her own examples. It can't have been easy.) narcissistic and dark tetrad parents believe they own their children. I knew that already but it never occurred to me till she pointed it out that this includes our sexuality. In their demented heads, our bodies, development, experiences are theirs to do with and exploit as they wish. 

If dark tetrads want to make their children uncomfortable (and they frequently do--that's how they maintain their edge and control), they broadcast intimate details about the child. I literally reeled when the doctor shared the example of a mother announcing that her daughter had pubic hair at a family gathering. I had forgotten all about my mother doing that at a picnic. She loudly told my grandmother  (who was very modest and would NOT have wanted that talked about in public). So bonus points for my mom: she got to make us both feel weird. And as I shared recently, my mother brags about how she likes to "shock (humiliate, embarrass, upset) people." Tell us you're a dark  tetrad without telling us. 

If the dark tetrad wants to make someone feel inferior and themselves feel superior (and they always do), they body shame them. And the child with her prepubescent body is the perfect victim. My mother told people we were more like sisters than mother and daughter. Note she wasn't saying friends. We were competitors in a race which she had a 22-year lead. She would compare our bodies and loved to boast her breast size. She smiled approvingly when her boyfriend would call me "Blisters" and mock my as yet undeveloped breasts. He did that all my life and I let him because mommy taught me being their laughingstock was what God wanted me to be. 

She would dress inappropriately sexualized and juvenile. She wore mini skirts, go-go boots and very revealing clothing in a time when no one else's mother was. Then she trash talked another woman who dressed this way, calling her a tramp. She'd run around in a bikini when most moms wore Bermuda shorts. Then she began running around naked and told anyone who would listen. She feigned embarrassment about being "accidentally" seen by one of her boyfriend's friends. But you could tell she really enjoyed that. She'd tell people, including my husband and sons, how she slept naked. My father paraded naked too and I remember seeing male body parts at 6 and asking if Daddy had a tail. It's so awful to recall. 

My mother was and still is very seductive around men, especially older men and boys.  She had a series of affairs with married men. She would sit on her boyfriends' laps and make out with them in front of me. She'd talk in this affected baby voice. She'd giggle with them in whispers about me. Once before I went to school, she was with a guy and his wife came over, belted my mom across the face and knocked her down the stairs. I was told to go to school and forget it. Nothing was ever said to me or by me about it again. 

She talks about her genitals openly and in graphic detail, at family gatherings. Now that she's older, she does this to elicit sympathy for all the mystery ailments she has, involving her privates. She asks her doctor, in front of me, for advice on sex. Then pretended not to know what the doctor said, so we had to spell it out. She talked openly about using birth control and showed me hers, when I was 9. No one else's mom was discussing that and probably few were even using it, it 1972. But that's not a question you want to ask your friends. 

She dressed as a hooker to a church Halloween party and had 8 year old me help her with her costume. I was probably the only third grader who knew that word. She went to see A Clockwork Orange but left early because it was "dirty." Then told 9 year old me all the gory details. It was too dirty for her but not for me, evidently. Another thing I was probably the only kid my school to know about. At 8, she decided I needed to know the facts of life which she spared no detail. She said she was trying to protect me but she never once came to my aid in any problem of that nature. In fact, she took other people's part and blamed me. Also, the fact that she used personal anecdotal experiences to illustrate makes me now see as an adult that this was more about her perversion than my education. Plus the fact that I held my hands over my ears and begged her to stop. 

She later opened a foster care home and had four young special needs kids under 5 plus various teens and me. And then she hooked up with a nasty, vulgar, lazy, unemployed, abusive guy, whom she moved in, made an apartment for herself and him in the basement and then quit  her job. I did most of the childcare and all the night care. She once left me with all these kids and her layabout live-in for a week. I couldn't calm the six-month old baby who was brain damaged, blind and deaf from abuse (and whom we never should have had in our care. He was far too ill for her to take care of let alone me.) Her boyfriend woke up screaming and cursing me. He told my mom I'd shaken the baby. He would continue screaming at me and blaming me all my life. I will never recover fully from the shame, guilt, self-hatred and trauma of that one experience not to mention all the other abuse. 

And then, into this mix, she brought in a 15 year old with a known history of molesting girls. He came to visit over a weekend and she said she was going to reform him by leading him to Jesus. What that ended up being was making me include him all my activities and him acting about as you'd expect. We went to the beach and while she lay tanning in her bikini, he went around pulling girls' bathing suits down, trying to drown them and/or make out with them. It was so bad that the other moms told my mom to get him away from their kids. She got mad and took us home. 

Then made me take him to the neighbor's pool where he proceeded to do the same thing. The neighbor kicked him out but still mom turned a deaf ear. I retreated to my room where he barged in and molested me. Meanwhile she was in the basement with her live-in. I ran the risk of telling her and was met with stony pursed-lipped rage. I begged her to say nothing to anyone because I was so embarrassed. She agreed and promptly went and told her boyfriend (who was routinely cruel and abusive to me) who told the kid to leave. She didn't want him to leave. Then she told everyone what happened and bragged up boyfriend for how brave he was. AT THE DAMN DINNER TABLE. Needless to say she never told anyone who could have helped me. 

Not too long after this, her foster care license was revoked and the two of them were found guilty of child abuse. She lied and said it didn't happen or if it did it was boyfriends' fault. Even though I watched him whip children with sticks and her laugh. No one ever said anything about me sleeping alone two floors up from them with four young children. Or my uncle and his girlfriend living in what was my room. Or her allowing me to be sexually abused and doing nothing. Or about her leaving me alone with the kids. Or approving her boyfriend harassing me. I don't know if that came up but she wouldn't have told me if it had. I was just whisked off to live with  my dad and his new wife who weren't much better. 

 I've tried for years to tell myself that she was just upset for me. That's why she was angry when I told her what the kid did. It took me 49 years to realize that no, she was pissed at me for pulling out one of the cards from her little fantasy house. It's important to note that she was loudly and proudly a Christian. She went to church every week, beat her Bible and would preach the "good news." She would make a show of being very holy. And was quick to finger point at anyone who was doing what she considered wrong. And then tell me that all this immoral behavior was actually her doing God's will. She was witnessing to men by sleeping with them. She was leading people to Jesus by letting them abuse her daughter. She was serving God by acting like a prostitute. She was being a good Christian by fubaring her daughter's ability to care for herself. She was honoring the Bible by brain damaging her daughter so badly that she is now crippled with it. 

And you may think that she didn't know what she was doing. Although honestly I don't think very many people reading my story would believe that. And even she would say she knows what she's doing if it's in her agenda to make you believe that. It all depends on who she is portraying at the moment. She is very sure of herself when she's pointing out other people's faults. But if she's in the wrong, oh yes, she'll paint herself as the innocent victim. She flip flops to feeble and helpless when that suits. If she is caught in a lie, she will evade, lie some more, back-peddle and even feign dementia. I didn't see all this because I wanted to believe her because I'm her daughter and I love her. What I didn't know but now do is that she's not my mom in any caring way, only in exploitative ways. Which is no mom at all. And she does not love me with anything like was real love is. She uses me. 

I know it sounds so ludicrous that I wouldn't have seen what was wrong with it but I didn't. I thought because she said so it must be so. Yes I can read the Bible and hear Christian teaching and know it's wrong for me to do these things. But a dark tetrad parent is very convincing. 

Disturbing things dark tetrad parents do that haunt their kids

Hi friends. I'm having a lot of awakenings lately around disturbing things my dark tetrad parents did that haunt me now. A lot of  these memories have lain dormant for decades and I've only just recalled them. And the way I have is the interesting and crucial part. I see now that all my life the bizarre things they've done have triggered sick fear, self-loathing and shame. But because the memories were buried, the feelings would just seem to come out of nowhere. Suddenly I am engulfed by them. It's so bad that I'm nauseous and dysregulating all over the place. Or sometimes I smile on the outside while quietly dying on the inside.   I never connected the dots back to where the shame originated. And now that I do, the picture becomes clear. And  it's even more dreadful than I could have imagined. 

"I like to shock people." Said no sane, normal person ever. But it was said and done often by my dark tetrad mother. And enjoying shocking people is screwy enough but worse when you read the translation. They don't mean shock in the nice surprise way. They love to zap people with painful, damaging hurt--think electroconvulsive therapy.  Dark tetrads love upsetting, humiliating and throwing people off balance with sucker punches and outlandish behavior. Especially their children. It's even worse when they consider themselves Christian missionaries because they translate witnessing the good news to publicly attacking, denouncing and harassing people. They literally believe it's their God-given duty (right) to make innocent people feel awkwardly ashamed. And do they get off  on that. 

Now we could argue all day what true Christian witnessing is supposed to look like. I think St. Francis said it well--just be kind. But what I want you to understand is that the dark tetrads' shocking behavior has nothing to do with any kind of Christian ministry or morality in general. In fact it's pretty much anathema to the Bible. They fancy themselves as leading others to God. But the way they do it looks much more like leading the other way. 

Some examples of my mother's "witnessing": adultery, open affairs with married men, taking me to an abortion clinic so a girl in her foster care could have an abortion, forcing sexual confidences on me, allowing her boyfriend to sexually harass me, getting mad at me when a teen in her foster care molested me, leaving me alone with her unemployed boyfriend to care for four special needs kids under 5 for a week. Telling people publicly at a family gathering that I was developing pubic hair. Abandoning me to strangers at 6 in Alaska, 4000 miles from home. Dumping me with strangers. And telling me that all of this was her doing God's work. These are just a few. 

So lots of wrong here. But where does it originate? Where's the disconnect? She said it herself. She likes to shock people. To betray, backstab, gang up on, embarrass. And that is proof positive that she is a dark tetrad--arrogant, malignant, mercenary and sadistic. And as a child, I was the perfect candidate. I was normal and believed I had normal parents who loved me. So all this they did I just assumed was love. They weren't and it wasn't. But I wasn't to know that. They could exploit my trust as much as they wanted and I wouldn't know the difference. 

And this was not accidental. They knew better. They knew how they expected to be treated. They knew how other parents cared for their children. They would mimic it, half-heartedly when anyone was watching. And then behind closed doors make no pretense of caring for me. Seriously, the number of times I've been left to my own devices and put out on the street at very young ages would  horrify normal people. 

And for all I say I thought this was okay, my subconscious did not. There as a still small voice screaming warnings and waving red flags. But children are messy little creatures at the best of times. We have no protocol for trauma, except kneejerk reactions. So I did some things that looked pretty deranged. I would bite and  hit myself. I would overreact all over the place with rage, panic, anxiety, terror and grief. And my parents were more than happy to leverage that to make me appear the problem and themselves the pretty ones. 

Case in point. A few years ago, my dad's wife, who had inserted herself into and dominated our relationship from the get-go and maintained a tight reign over us all, lectured me for being the problem in their family (operative words) She said I was at fault for being "so angry" at my dad.
Angry?? ANGRY? Bitch please. I've never shown the slightest bit of self-care let alone stood up for myself to you two. I've let you steamroll me. And that is the problem. I SHOULD be furious with you. 

Let's not forget that this is the father who had estranged himself, abandoned me, allowed her to abuse me and felt zero responsibility to me. And whom I had literally slaved for all my life and never EVER been anything but kind. Did I mention that these two hated  each other and were estranged from their other kids as well? If that's not gaslighting I don't know what is. And yet I fell for it.  Here I was 50 years old and feeling all the old despair of being 13 and unable to please this implacable dominatrix. 

Oh you think that's too  harsh a word? Anyone who's been at the mercy of dark tetrad parents won't. They'll tell you that it feels very much like a sick twisted game of BDSM. A game you can never win except by losing. A game that will leave you a shattered mess that no one helps you with. When they've extracted all they can from you, they step over your carcass and move on. They hang you out like a Spandau Ballet and laugh as you writhe and twist. They get off on seeing you suffer. 

I'm exhausted writing all this and need a break. But I'll be continuing this because we've only scratched the surface of how dark tetrads damage their kids. 

Sucker punches dark tetrad parents hit their scapegoat kids with (and what it does to us)

 Hello my friends. If you've suffered with CPTSD (complex or childhood post-traumatic stress disorder), you will want to read this post. I'm going to list some of the sucker punches my dark tetrad parents pulled on me as their scapegoat child. And I'm going to describe some of the damage that causes. You need to know that most of what I write is in "real time" awareness. As soon as I realize it, I share it. 

Dark tetrad parents lie to and about their kids. Not nice lies. They don't bend the truth to spare a child. They gaslight, invent, twist and deceive with the express purpose of confusing, upsetting, making her vulnerable and catching her off guard. They say she did bad things she didn't. They frame her. 

Dark tetrads chameleon depending on who's watching. She'll play the loving mother if grama and grampa are around. Then she flip flops to her usual neglectful self as soon as they leave. Or he'll make up a story painting himself as victim and the child as bad guy to elicit sympathy. She only brags up the child to show off  her supposed role in the success. This messes with the child' mind and makes her feel weirdly responsible for things she didn't do or accountable to mother. 

Dark tetrads hit below the belt.  They kick us when we're down and push us down when they need to feel superior. They humiliate us in front of others. They use us to get the shock value they so crave. They shock us by dropping huge bombs like "getting a divorce, thx-k-bye" and leaving us to fend. They throw pies in our face,  laugh like idiots and get mad and punish us when no one else finds it funny. 

Dark tetrad parents weaponize a child's trust. They blab confidences the child shared. They mock her about insecurities like trauma sleep-walking (which they caused). She tells at the dinner table how her daughter was molested by a guy in their foster care home and then brags up her boyfriend for how "well he handled it." This makes us feel helpless, hopeless and alone. And if I'm honest, suicidal. 

Dark tetrad parents backstab. They fake agreement to con the child into letting down her guard. All the while cherishing resentments, exaggerating and inventing injuries and letting all this fester into towering narcissistic rage. But which they don't dare show lest other people will see behind the mask. So all their venom comes out in the saber in the back. 

Dark tetrads use people. They drip poison in the form of cruel gossip and lies into people's ears. They invent hostilities. They tell network lies, telling each person in the circle something nasty about someone else, round and round. They form posses. They machinate, manipulate, exploit and triangulate, pit people against each other and play them off one another like snooker cues. A child being too young and innocent to understand these dirty, underhanded tricks, gets stuck in their sticky webs of intrigue. 

Dark tetrad parents gang up and ambush. Once they've completed their mission to divide and conquer, they go in for the kill. But being cowards they zero in on the weakest, smallest most vulnerable member--the child. And they do it guerilla style, completely pulling the rug out and upending the child. They cut contact with anyone who might protect her. Unless they need that person as someone to dump the child on. In that case, they lie to and about the child and the loved one, in order to sabotage the relationship without actually losing the caregivers. They lie and say that person also has it in for her. The level of damage this does the poor kid is unspeakable. 

Dark tetrad parents use grossly inappropriate and Draconian punishment. You know how normal kids make normal kid mistakes and stupid choices? None of that is allowed the child of dark tetrad parents. The slightest hint of any wrongdoing is blown out of proportion. And the child is subjected to a firestorm of very illogical, unnatural and unsafe consequences. It comes out of nowhere. Ergo, the only thing she learns is to be afraid. Very afraid. 

Dark tetrad parents hang and bury their child. They crucify her with false accusations, blame dumping and shame shifting. They bury her under mountains of chaos and trauma. They suffocate her with lies. They cripple her with neglect and abuse. They treat her like a mushroom feeding her shit and keeping her in the dark. 

Dark tetrad parents never admit to, feel remorse or apologize for anything.  After sating their rage on the child, and have her crying, cowering, wetting her pants in fear, they say, very calmly "we won't speak of this again." As if they are doing her a favor. What they really mean is "you won't say anything to anyone about what we just did here." And she doesn't', for the rest of her life. Or until such time as the gas clears and she realizes what happened. 

I know I said I'd share what this does to us. But I'm still excavating all that. One thing I know is that it made me blind, barmy and baffled. I don't even know what I don't know. And what I do know, I've been conditioned not to believe. It. Is. Exhausting. 

Dark tetrad parents' gaslighting lies about kids that are actually true of them (and which contradict God)

Hey my friends. Today I'm looking at gaslighting lies that dark tetrad parents say to and about their kids, that are actually true of them. And how this arrogant, deceitful, malicious shaming is completely contrary to God, the Bible and common parenting sense. These are things my parents said to me which at the time I believed. The power of gaslighting is real. But now I see that all their character assassination of me was really them telling on themselves. As my MIL said, when you point one finger at someone remember, four more are pointing back at you. 

You're showing off. According to my dad, I was just one big drama queen. Said the guy who left us in Alaska so he could convert the Manson girls (!) One time that stands out was when he called me a showoff for singing. All while pouting that he wasn't asked to play his violin in whatever church he happened to grace with his presence that Sunday. 

You're too sensitive. You can't take criticism. When I was being routinely as in on a daily basis verbally abused, attacked, belittled, mocked, humiliated publicly at family gatherings. When it was my dad who had a royal raging helluva hissy fit because I corrected the way he spelled algebra. 

You're too critical. They routinely neglected my care. They forced me to do all the childcare at 10 in my mom's foster care. So she and her boyfriend could play house in the basement. I was doing all my dad's and his wife's  housework and childcare. I was co-sleeping with their babies at 12. Then the work of running their adult foster care home at 14. I  never complained but when family members would call them out, they'd turn and blame me for telling on them. I never once did. 

You're exaggerating. About the abuse, neglect, abandonment (they literally left me with strangers in Alaska for weeks at a time when I was 6), endangerment (I was left to wander alone blocks from home at 4), exploitation, humiliation, parentification, scapegoating, lies and gaslighting, apparently. Though I'd never said anything. It took me till 59 to realize what had happened. It was their guilty consciences but dark tetrads never admit anything so they had to blame me. 

You're over dramatizing. . Said four of the  most theatrical showoffs you could imagine. If I was casting them in a play it would have to be a melodrama. Cue Little Nell and Snidely Whiplash. Which is also funny because as I said, I never even admitted that all this was happening. I made  excuses for every weird, dangerous, hurtful thing they did. 

You're fishing for compliments. When I asked if one of the many tasks I'd done was acceptable. And I only did that because there were horrific consequences for "failure." And they always came out of the blue like a knife in the back. Stepmommy and stepdaddy were VERY angry people and I was their victim of choice. 

You're looking for attention. Well if you gave me just a bit of the attention real parents give their kids, I wouldn't have to now would I? But your M.O. is to ignore, exclude and put me in a corner until you want something of me. 

You are selfish. Now that one's just laughable. Everything I ever had was sold to fund some pipe dream of their new partners and family. Literally my college fund was stolen to buy a motorcycle. And my child support was used to enable my mom's sorry new husband to sleep all day while I was evicted from their house at 16. 

You're sinful. Yep sure am. And so is every other person on in history. Your point? You're just saying that to make me feel even more like shit. And to draw attention away from your own despicable behavior. 

You nitpick. SAYS THE FRIGGIN CHIEF NITPICKERS! Your  wife got upset with me for failing to scrub on hands and knees, the baseboards to perfection. Or because I didn't fold a towel her way. Or because she had to actually get up with her son at night because I was gone. 

You're arrogant and proud. Don't even get me started on your many levels of arrogance, Jack, Ginny, Bill and Nancy. You really don't want to go there because I will bury you in f'rinstances. 

You're disobedient. Not as much as I should have been. And really not at all. You have bound me, Pharisitically to burdens you never carried and you made yourselves gods to me. You should thank me for saving you from damnation of your own pride. 

You're disloyal. Says who? I'm more loyal to you than you deserve. You're the ones disloyal to everyone--God, your spouses, me, your parents-- save yourselves. 

It's your duty to do these chores. My the euphemisms you use. A few household tasks, indeed. More like all the mopping, sweeping, dusting, vacuuming, childcare, dishes, bathroom cleaning, laundry,  ironing, cosleeping with your kids, kitchen cleaning, meal prep, waiting tables for your foster care--that's the work of housekeeper, nanny, parlour and scullery maid and a tweenie all rolled into one. 

We're not putting too much work on you. Well if not, why do I have spine, neck and back problems of a 60 year old at 12? And why do you make me do things you would never do yourself. And without proper tools like a simple mop or vacuum? Why am I expected to scale snowbanks to get your kids' frozen diapers off the line? 

You're lazy. Hummph, interesting. Remind me who it is that has to be up at 6 on a Saturday to clean the house and who watches TV till 3 am then sleeps till noon, never lifts a finger and expects stepdaughter to do all the work  and is still angry and demanding more? Who is is that pouts and points her finger at daughter and gets husband to force more on daughter? For free!!

You're spoiled. Oh do tell how, please I dare you. If this shitshow you've shoved me in is spoiled, I'd hate to see abused and neglected. 

You're lucky we had a good divorce. Really. As compared to what? We didn't know anyone who was divorced. I got that privilege to myself. And you never gave me an iota of help with it. Just plopped it in my lap and ran off to find new playmates. Seems to me you're the lucky one having such a patient daughter. And that the police didn't have you up for child abuse, neglect, endangerment and abandonment. 

You're just jealous. Of you and your new "friends"? No really I'm not. I can see what trainwrecks you all are. And I wish you joy of each other. Now if you said envious of having a real family and loving parents, you might be right. 

You're feeling sorry for yourself. When I get exhausted, burned out and depressed from all the burdens you put on me? No but I should be. But then, I forgot. "Depression" is your prerogative to weaponize against me and to leverage my pity. 

You owe (insert list of demands) to your stepmother, stepfather and us. Whoa, whoa.  Hold on there. Your new partners aren't my parents. If anyone owes anyone, they owe me care and love as your kid. And if you were going to bust up my family, the least you owed me was to pick caring people, not exploitative, demanding, abusive slavedrivers. I was never asked and never agreed to anything. So I owe you nothing. You on the other hand did sign a contract of care when you brought me into this world. A bargain which you've never upheld. 

It's your fault I didn't succeed. If it weren't for you, I could have been (insert fantasy du jour). You mean being a mom caused you to miss opportunities? Oh honey, don't' compound lie with lie. you never let responsibility to me stand in the way of getting what you wanted. If you failed that was entirely on you. 

You're in the way. Yeah and knowing you felt that way has crippled my self-esteem and confidence to the point where exiting this life seemed preferrable to staying. Put that it your pipe and smoke it. 

Quit interrupting the adults when we're talking. I was an adult when they said this. And you've never acted like adults only spoiled toddlers. 

You're angry all the time. (pause for laughs). I'M angry?? Pot, kettle. You lot are seething aggressive and passive-aggressive rage addicts. And if I did for once show anger, it would be righteously justified for all you put on me. You forget the scripture that warns you not to anger (frustrate, disappoint, stress) your kids. 

You're disrespectful. No you're the one who's disrespectful to me. You only scorn. And I'm too respectful of you when you don't merit it. 

You disobey God. K, let's unpack what's really being said here. If I'm doing all your work, and honoring you by obedience, even to your new spouses which by the way you're disobeying the Bible having, where's the problem here? You set yourself up as God and expect me to obey immoral commands. So who's the disobedient one here? 

Got expects you to be obedient to parents. Ye..ess, but not when 1) you make yourself a god 2) you force me to do things that contradict God 3) you put people in my life and call them parents. He also expects YOU to obey Him and your parents which you did not do. AND He further expects you to love and care for your child (which you didn't do) and not antagonize your children (which you did). 

He (she) can do whatever he (she) wants he's (she's) your father/mother. No he's/she's not. These are YOUR new partners NOT my parents. You can't even do whatever you want as my parents, let alone them. THEY  have to respect me which might help me respect them. It begins with THEM being loving and caring not just two more demanding bosses in my life. 

I have to let him (her)  do whatever he (she) wants to you, he's/she's  my husband/wife. Errr, no because 1) you don't let him/her do whatever he/she wants to you. You only play this dutiful helpless spouse charade when it comes to your partners hurting and enslaving me. You take damn good care of yourself.  And you actually cheer them on to abuse me as the scapegoat so you can avoid any responsibility. And why did you choose such horrible people to foist on me anyway? You don't like or love them. Talk about failing your parental duties. 

You're immoral. No I'm actually a pretty moral person. But it just suits  you to make me think that because it turns the spotlight from your own risky, neglectful, immoral behavior. 

You're a disappointment. That may be but yanno what? I just realized that you're a bigger disappointment to me. And I will say, to God. You drew first blood in neglecting your responsibilities to us both. And I will grow and mature. While you will and have go to your graves as failures. Unless you take your own advice and "remember that hell is still hot" (Nancy on Facebook post, SMH). 

Dark tetrad parents steal and destroy every good thing from their child

 Hello my friends. Today I'm looking at how dark tetrad (arrogant, self-centered, manipulative cruel) parents steal and destroy every good thing their child possesses. I've written about this before and I'm going to need to write about it again, many times as I remember more things they ruined for me. Here's a list of things which most children had and which were taken from me by my parents. These are in no particular order. 

Toys. Things would be given to me and then disappear never to return. Or my parents would get me something and then take it back. I think now that they only did this for show, to make it look like they were caring for me. But they weren't. I think, though I can never prove, that most of my things were sold to fund their new families. 

Childhood. I read a quote, I think it was from Patrick Teahan something to the effect that children who are forced to spend too much time in their  parents' adult world never get to be children. Oh how heartbreakingly true that is. Dark tetrad parents abandon and neglect their parental duties, make their children  responsible for them like mini adults and rob them of their right to be a kid. 

Personhood.  Dark tetrad parents quite literally pirate the child's self. They shatter any boundaries she might form. They enmesh themselves with their child in creepy ways. They feed parasitically off their child. She has no life, identity or autonomy outside the Mothership. Who then cuts her adrift so she and  floats in space like Major Tom bewildered, lost and alone. 

Privacy. Dark tetrads make it clear in every aspect of the child's life, that she is sub human and not entitled to things normal humans have. Like personal space. They take everything and then arrogantly make the child feel in the way for needing the least little thing. All my life I've been ashamed of my singing voice (which is actually somewhat  pretty) because I was singing in the bathroom and  my dad told me I was showing off. When I told my son this story he asked "what was your dad doing in the bathroom with you." Good point. 

Sexual identity or confidence. Dark tetrads are debauched and morally bankrupt. They think, say and do sexually off things. A lot of it is flat out abusive. Then they accuse their child of doing these things. WHEN SHE IS JUST A CHILD!  She believes she is dirty when she doesn't even know or want to know anything about such things yet. Dark tetrad parents implant sick and weird ideas in the child's head that haunt her for the rest of her life. Her entire experience with intimacy is poisoned by their sickness. My mother described her  adulterous affairs in detail. She paraded around naked and made sure to highlight her voluptuousness compared to my young unformed body. My dad at 35, took me (9) on dates with his 17-year-old girlfriend.  

Medical care. Dark tetrad parents insure that their child will be crippled for life by physical injury and illness that they could have easily been treated in childhood. My back, hips and  neck are permanently twisted by early onset arthritis from doing far too  much manual labor and waiting on my parents. My dad who had good insurance never took me to the doctor. When I was sick for months on end, he illegally took a mono test kit from the hospital where he worked to save himself the money. My stepmother had expensive bariatric surgery. My mother ignored illnesses and injuries until they were out of control. I lived on penicillin for several years until my grandparents finally asked why the hell Marilisa always had a sore throat. And I finally got surgery. By that time, my tonsils were rotten with infection and recovery was so severe I lost 15 pounds. None of them were the least bit concerned or helped me thru it. My friend had to tell my mother that I wasn't eating. 

Place. Dark tetrad parents don't provide adequate space or resources for the child. She exists on the fringes like a homeless person. They foist themselves on their child in unhealthy ways. They're always yelling at her for being in the way. They give her bedroom to their brother and his girlfriend so they can play house. They make her sleep in over-crowded rooms with their babies so they can have their privacy. 

A mind of our own. We are not free from our possessive control freak dark tetrad parents even in our own heads. We don't own our own feelings, thoughts, needs, ideas or dreams. They do. They arrogantly tell us what we think even when it's nothing like that. They malign our character and assassinate our intentions. They accuse us of having sinful and wicked motives. According to them, we're always showing off, bragging or "fishing for compliments." They insult and belittle our achievements. They make themselves the center of attention to steal any limelight we might be in. They invade and colonize our brains with disturbing, painful, twisted lies. We believe them because they've groomed us from infancy to do so. And they are so loudly convincing. 

The world sees us as just normal kids because no one looks in on our living situation. They don't realize that the house we are staying in isn't ours. It's our workplace not our home. And because our parents are good at hiding the bruises they inflict. So people just expect that we can function like those who have resources and tools. We spend the rest of our lives trying to figure out how the hell we're supposed to do that. And we actually do a pretty good job given all we lack. But we never feel good about it because that was robbed from us too.