My parents hate each other and I can't take it anymore
Hey Reddit, I'm a 17 y.o. girl and I really need some advice. I don't really know the ins and outs of this website, I just like to listen to the stuff on TikTok, so please lmk if there is somewhere else I should post this. I might've left out a few details, my memory isn't that good. This is also kind of a long post so skip to the end for the TLDR. Also pls ignore the freaky username? I couldn't figure out how to change it.
I live with both of my parents; my dad, white 60M, and my mom, Asian 48F. I'm an only child. They've had a rocky relationship my whole life but it's been pretty bad the past two days.
So for some backstory, my dad is basically my best friend, the person I confide in 99% of the time. My mom is not at all that person to me. She consistently makes me feel like I'm doing everything wrong with my life and I can't say anything around her without it turning into a full fledged argument. The moment she gets home from work everyday, I swear to you that there is always a complaint, and it's always something that could be pushed to the side or something that just isn't important. Her understanding of the English language is also pretty rough and that's the root of our problems imo.
My dad has also been the breadwinner of my family for my whole life to support my mom who was studying to be a nurse up until a year ago when she finally became an RN. He's been working part-time at a job he really likes while my mom has turned into the breadwinner. She also has not held the same job for more than a month at a time.
Okay that's it for backstory, so it started the yesterday when the three of us were on the couch and we were watching this Korean zombie show (my mom isn't Korean if you were wondering) after my mom had got off work from a 12 hour shift, and one of the characters made a funny inappropriate joke. My mom didn't get it so I explained it to her and my dad made a comment along the lines of, "you know it's bad when your teen daughter has to explain a dirty joke to you." I didn't think anything of it and I laughed, but my mom got really upset at this. She started yelling at my dad and saying things like "you're such a shallow person," just hurling away the insults and saying things you would hear in those TikToks that tell you to cut out the toxic people in your life, ykwim. And then she walks away and does that thing that I know some parents do where they start talking about you like you don't exist in the other room and just screaming basically. She then walked into the living room again and said, "I work everyday to feed this family, so we can afford to live." Then she just went to bed angry without saying good night to either me or my dad.
Fast forward to today, my parents do the thing where post-argument, they pretend like nothing happened and act normal. Recently, our trash bin split in the back, so my dad called the trash company and asked them to replace it and he left it in the front yard. However when my dad and I came back from a walk, we saw that my mom had dragged it back to the back yard. My dad was really angry, but I asked him if he had told her why he put the trash out and he just shrugged and said "idk". We got inside and I told him that he should tell her why he had the bin out in the first place, but he just told me that there was no point and sat on the couch to watch TV. I was very frustrated, and I told him that I wasn't going to be in between another one of their fights just because he refused to communicate something with her. He just shrugged again and I got really mad and straight up said that if he wasn't going to tell her, I would. And then he laughed like the thought of my threatening him made him laugh, and I just told him that it wasn't funny. He did end up telling her why the bin was in the front yard, but I am just so done with gentle parenting my parents. It's been very tense today. Like they talk to each other, but not enough for a rewarding conversation.
It's so draining on my mental health, especially when I'm just trying to enjoy my summer, and they argue every. single. day. How do I tell them I just need them to get along? It's so frustrating every day trying to stay neutral when my mother makes it so difficult to like her and my dad refuses to communicate?? Both of them constantly invalidate my feelings whenever I express any type of frustration to either of them. Help.
TLDR: My parents fight all the time, my mother is the main instigator, my father never talks about anything, and they both suck whenever I try and talk to them. Please help me talk to them about how their behavior is affecting my mental health.
Also, my mother has also threatened divorce multiple times, and my dad has just said, "okay go ahead." I genuinely believe that my dad wants to divorce my mom, but I think the only reason he's staying is for me to not have to do that divorced song and dance with them.
Posted Jul 9, 2025, 4:04 AM UTC