AITAH for ignoring my parents after their neglect for themselves and their children caused myself and my sisters childhoods to be s**ty
Just to get some context out of the way
i have 3 sisters. we all have separate dads except the 2 oldest
il refer to my sisters as (S) oldest (C) second oldest (L) second youngest
A long time ago, a couple years before my birth my mom was diagnosed with MS (Multiple sclerosis) and it was affecting my mothers personality and her ability to walk. this is when L's dad decided to leave for reasons unknown to me.
As my mothers condition worsened she hooked up with my dad, he Lived in Florida at the time and was a convicted felon, he had also recently left his prior family of 1 daughter and 1 son because of his drinking problem. Deciding they were right for each other my dad sold all his mechanic tools (500,000k) and used the money to buy a very nice house at the time. I'm unaware of the exact time or price but it was around 2005 and its a 2 bath 5 bedroom with a finished basement and spacious backyard so i cant imagine it was cheap
at this point in time my mother could no longer walk by herself and had to use a 4 legged walker and needed assistance in and out of bed, her personality had drastically changed and my siblings described her as a "shell of herself"
finally around 2008 i was birthed and this was the final straw for my mothers already week body, being completely paralyzed from the waist down and her muscle density lowering drastically to the point where she could barely push herself up. my father and siblings had to help her in basically any task (getting in/out of bed, bathing, cooking, cleaning the house, Ext)
my mother had been trying for years to have a son and this was shown in how she treated us
my sisters said they would often get beat for minor things (like not doing a chore). but my mother never so much as raised her voice at me. and at the time my father blowing all his money on beer would often only come home with food only for me and let my siblings scavenge for what ever was in the fridge.
but even with my parents focusing most of their attention on me i wasn't immune to the neglect. They did a very poor job at drilling basic hygrine into me. and i often was dirty.
skipping a few years into the future around 2018 C's boyfriend had stolen parts from a car my dad had in the backyard and with my mother backing my sister he decided to leave
with the only commanding presence in the house gone my sisters had grown rebellious and stopped listening to my mother. the house was completely trashed in a matter of days (mostly due to my mothers hording) and as time continued it only got worse with sections of the house becoming un navigable due to how much trash was on the ground.
(i feel its important to mention that L had moved out way before this to live with my grandma)
my sisters didn't resent me and still to this day try to paint my mother in a good light, they say its not her fault that the MS had stolen her body and mind but they couldn't stay in the same house as her anymore and they moved out slowly.
with my sisters gone and my father barely in the picture (he would bring me to his GF's house every couple of months) it was just me taking care of my mother by myself at 10. and being a entitled little S**T i didn't do very good
my mother would give me the bridge card (Michigan's SNAP program) and have me walk to the Walmart (about a 40 min walk) to get food for us both. although i refused to help clean and roaches and fly's plagued the us
this only consisted for a couple of months before L had taken me in to stay with my grandma (witch she says was only after lots of begging) she basically became my primary caretaker, she bought my food, clothes. she enrolled me in school, she even got me luxurious she didn't have to provide like my Ps4. she had gotten herself legally emancipated at 17 to do this and get custody rights over me witch il be eternally grateful for.
I stayed with my grandma
my sister then got an apartment with her boyfriend
and then she got a house
during my time at my grandmas and apartment my mother badmouthed L for taking me and L basically cut contact with her but still invited her to events that were focused around me
and around this time i also was lowering my contact with my parents, i didn't out right ignore them but i also didn't go out of my way to talk to them (aside from seeing them in person). me and my parents could go months without so much as a text, only talking to each other on holidays.
but iv always kind of felt bad about never talking to them because when i do they say how they miss me and i should come over some time and ask L to bring me over
just to clarify nobody mentioned thinks ITAH but i just wanted an outside opinion on whether i was justified to stop contacting my parents
theirs allot i omitted but i feel like this is dragging on, il answer questions but I'm gonna end this here
Posted Aug 21, 2026, 2:26 AM UTC · locked