Is it wrong that I confront my parents about how emotionally neglectful they were and still are?

Just be mature about it. And by that, I don’t mean “hide your feelings”, I mean “make sure that the action you take will bring you closer to what you want and not farther away.” That’s what mature action is.

So the first thing is to consider what you want and why. The next step is to consider whether your parents are even capable of providing that (hint: if they were, you probably wouldn’t be having this problem right now, but there are exceptions). If you determine they are able to do/ be what you want, the next step is to think of how you get them to do / be what you want /need.

So if a confrontation won’t get you what you want (it might, I don’t know what you want), then get a clearer picture of what you want.

Maybe your parents are so worthless that yelling at them won’t negatively impact your future. That’s unlikely, but possible. But otherwise, your child-like raw impulses (and that’s not an insult) will have to be refined by more thought and planning.

As far as chasing them to fulfill your emotional needs, this seems like a child’s raw impulse (again, no insult intended). What would you do if you gave up on your mom too? Would you them look for a different person who might be more well suited to fulfill your needs? Would you does your needs and deny you have them? Would you stop being frustrated with your mom because you’ve stopped trying to force her to do something she doesn’t want to do?

Do they owe you? Yes. Can you collect on that debt? It’s somewhat unlikely.

/r/emotionalneglect Thread