Dear Jisoo,

one incident I specifically remember..mom mocking my running style infront of her sisters and brothers.

This is more than emotional neglect – it’s emotional abuse. Mocking a child, especially in front of others, is very damaging, very toxic. So you experienced mocking for not being super athletic, scolding and punishing for less-then-perfect performance in other subjects, and not getting any praise or recognition for your otherwise stellar performance. That’s emotional abuse. Neglect is when your mother didn’t notice your tears…

In fact I got reminded most of my childhood stuff during recent years because I don’t want my kid to go through the same stuff i went through. I protect my kid’s emotions.

It’s good that you are aware of the stuff you went through and choose to parent your child differently…

Any suggestions on what can be done now to improve my self esteem around relationships ?

You’d need to embrace the little girl in you, and tell her how precious she is, how you much you love her and appreciate her. You’d need to be the loving parent to your inner child and give her the love, appreciation and validation she never received from your parents. And lots of compassion too for being “imperfect” and making mistakes. So lots of love and compassion for the little girl that you were… Do you think it’s something you could do?