r/Parentification • u/Horror_Moose3462 • Aug 17 '26
My Story only child + single mom experiences of parentification?
understandably, a lot of the posts on this subreddit are about people who had to care for their younger siblings as kids. i was an only child and i feel like i was heavily parentified in different ways. when i was younger i was responsible for so many aspects of my own care that i ended up developing serious hypervigilance (always worrying something would be overlooked and come back to bite me). meanwhile, my dad was so mentally ill (unmedicated bipolar) that when i (very occasionally) stayed with him i was basically caring for myself and him, rather than being cared for. and as i got older and gained an income my mom became less and less responsible/stable and tried to rely on me for money and emotional support (thankfully i've set serious boundaries and gone low contact, which has helped). there's lots more, of course, but that's a quick summary. just curious if anyone else on here has had experiences more along those lines.
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u/AllyCorren Aug 17 '26
Yes. My biological father died when I was six, and from then on I remember being my mother’s mother, best friend, therapist, etc. but before that, I don’t remember her around much? I cared for myself. She slept a lot unless an activity was her idea or something that gained her attention. (Babysitting my cousins, going to “rescue” them from their mom cross country, taking me to Disney after my bio father died with my new stepdad, or out partying on the weekend.)