<cite> @a1b2c3d4 said:</cite>
Hello yet again, Sleipnir 🙂

“The child helps the parent with their trauma without consent”- what an interesting way of saying it..

I don’t know if I said it in this thread, or in another, but for many years I wished and dreamed of helping my mother, of turning her sad life into a happy life (I daydreamed of making her rich and famous, as I thought that’s what it’d take).

Not realizing she had already helped herself to me (shaming me extensively, dominating me, feeling powerful as she did).

Back to your words, I didn’t help her with her trauma, didn’t resolve it, or lessen it, it’s just that she got to feel temporarily powerful over someone else, for a change- an exception to her otherwise powerless experience of life.

And yes, without my consent.

I’m guessing you’re referring to a computer game (“My Little Pony G5)? I’ll look it up when I have the use of the computer ( using my phone now).

I’d love to read more from you, in this thread, in your own, or in any other thread.

Anita

The Darkest thing about this is that abusers of this type hid behind the idea that that their making you stronger then they were.

Perhaps I have put it wrong?

My Little Pony G5 refers to the Generation after G4, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and My Little Pony Pony, G5 being My Little Pony A New Generation, My Little Pony Make Your Mark, and My Little Pony Tell Your Tale.

<cite> @a1b2c3d4 said:</cite>
Hello yet again, again, Sleipnir 🙂

What you’re talking about above is often called parentification, or emotional parentification.

In healthy families, the parent comforts the child and the child gets to be a child.

In unhealthy families, the child ends up becoming the comforter, taking care of the parent’s emotional needs instead of being cared for themselves.

As for Opal, I think I understand the connection you’re making. Sometimes parents become so caught up in their own wounds that their child ends up carrying emotional burdens that never belonged to the child in the first place.

You mentioned Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl (on your own thread).

One of his most famous lines is:

“Those who have a ‘why’ to live, can bear almost any ‘how’.”

That made me wonder:

What is your “why,” Sleipnir?

I’ll tell you mine if you tell me yours. 🙂

Anita

To become a Great Artist.