Is this a normal sort of thing for a parent to say to a young adult child?

Started by notakinganymore, April 10, 2026, 11:11:56 PM

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notakinganymore

"You wear make up when you go other places, I wish we were worth enough for you to go to that much trouble when you come visit us."
"Your hair is dirty, your clothes are wrinkled, and you have no makeup on [all of which were untrue] - you know better than to go to the office looking like that."

NarcKiddo

I doubt it is normal, but since I come from a dysfunctional family I could not say. I'd be tempted to say in response to comment 1 'clearly I am not good enough as I am' and see what they reply.
Don't let the narcs get you down!

notakinganymore

Thanks for taking the time to reply to my brief and somewhat obscure question.  I see now that this parent never did anything but judge people based on appearance "she needs a better bra" "she thinks that outfit hides her big butt but it doesn't" and on and on, in an indirect way to control how I presented myself, in attempt to not be seen like that. The problem being no one was ever good enough, something was always sub-par about everyone, and I was learning that included me.  Eventually I stopped trying to meet those standards, which created new problems.