Me [32 M] with my Mum [63 F] How to deal with her cold, loveless mothering?
Recently my life has undergone a massive transformation in a very short time. My parents are divorced and my dad gave me enough money from my inheritance to buy my first house. As this was happening, I met a wonderful lady who I've now been seeing for 4 months and am very happy with. She has a 6 year old child and is divorced. I've not yet met the kid as we want it to be right etc.
This post is in regards to my mother and the above 2 events. Her attitude towards my house and my relationship have been at best apathetic and at worst, downright disrespectful.
The first thing that happened was that when it was discussed how much money I required for the house, my dad was meant to put down a large amount and my mum, a small amount. This is because she has less than him. I had no problem with that. She then went to my dad and badgered him for the money back as she felt she shouldn't put any towards me as my dad could cover the full amount on his own. My dad is a wonderful man and gave her the money back and covered the amount himself and then told me what had happened. My mum on the other hand, thinks I don't know and still pretends to me that she financially contributed.
My mother than came with me to view and pick the house. I selected one and she approved. I brought. Then 3 weeks after it was completed, she turned round to me and went "I'm only going to say this once, you shouldn't have brought that house. It's in the wrong area (it isn't, I'm very happy where it is), and not in good condition." My dad on the other hand, then spent the next 3 months working with me to do the house up until it was in immaculate condition and now it's done, it's perfect for me. The house cost £30,000 less than my budget and I only spent £20,000 doing it up so I'm actually £10,000 better off than what my mum suggested in buying a house ready-done.
A few weeks ago my nephew came to stay with my mum for a week. He's 10 and I haven't seen him in a four years. I really wanted to spend time with him for this reason, and that I also need practice with small children ready for when I meet my gf's child. I told my mum this. She then went out her way for the whole week to make sure I didn't see him, giving me bullshit excuses so I wouldn't go round (e.g. Not tonight, we're dropping presents off at another relatives house).
So last week she drops into my work place, as she sometimes does, to deliver me a 'house warming present'...It was a cup. A fucking tea cup. With bikes on. Because I ride a bike. My dad puts £70,000 and 3 months labor into my future house, not to mention lots of advice about taking on my gf and her child potentially whilst my mum does fuck all except bring me a cheap, tacky mug. I don't even drink tea! I drink Coffee. Always have.
I've spent the last few weeks thinking about my relationship with my mother. The last time she hugged me was...Well I can't even remember it. I would have been very young...8...9? She's never shown any real pride or encouragement in what I do and even though I run my own business with a six figure turnover and have done so for 12 years, all I get is "well, yes, well done, you can still do better".
So I guess what I'm asking is what do I do about her Reddit? She's never been 'abusive' or insulting. She's just emotionally cold and seemingly hates to see me succeed. Anyone have any experience with this?
tl;dr: My mum has never been a good mother to me and now it's reached the point where I just can't deal with her passive-aggressive attempts to dampen my life. What do?
Posted Aug 29, 2016, 10:55 PM UTC · edited