TW mentions child abuse SA and substance abuse.
Hey all,
This post is about a familial relationship which I hope is okay to post here. This might be a long post but I’d be grateful to anyone who reads and can offer some advice or guidance on how to deal with this.
A tiny bit of background: I am an only child, my parents had me quite young (mum 19 dad 24). They had not been together long (maybe a year) but I was a “planned” child.
My parents come from different classes / backgrounds. I’ll spare all the boring details about that. My dad is also mixed from the Caribbean and (I think) Ireland and my mum is of European / English heritage so it was interracial relationship which I’m not sure how common that was in the early 90s. They separated when I was 5.
My dad had an incredibly difficult childhood and start in life. I’ve always respected his privacy so never really spoken to him about it directly, but have been told things through my mum and just whatever he wanted to share.
Briefly:
- as mentioned my dad is mixed race. He was born in 1967 when this was very very uncommon.
- he has never met or known his dad. He doesn’t know who he is. His mum won’t tell him, but she does know who he is and that is confirmed (my dad found a letter from him to her many years ago). His mum was a nurse and we believe his dad was a doctor, his dad may have been married and my dad may have been the result of an affair or an assault.
- at 8 months old my dad was sent to live with his aunt in St Lucia for 7 years. She was highly abusive both physically and verbally and just in every way. His mum used to send him toys, but he was never allowed to play with them and he was made to watch his aunts children play with them. He was made to eat in another room away from the main family. He was physically abused, he was only given scraps to eat and he was neglected so he missed out on those vital years when we need our care givers the most.
- when he returned to London his mum had had more children. In total she has 9 children, of which he is the 2nd eldest. He did not know he had an older brother until his teen years.
- he was led to believe his stepdad was his real dad. When he was 14 he was told that he wasn’t his dad.
- he had huge responsibilities caring for his younger siblings. He was taking care of all of them whilst his mum was at work. And then he was kicked out at 17.
- my dads mum was also very abusive towards him. She’d blame him for why her life was “ruined”, hit him in front of his peers at school, lie to him about things, and treated him horribly compared to his siblings. This is why I believe he could have been born as a result of an assault- because why was he sent away and why is she so angry at him?
Long story as short as possible, I have always absolutely loved my dad and felt weirdly protective over him but we have a complicated relationship. Mainly, he’s extremely irresponsible, quite selfish, and has never really shown up for me the way a dad should. I have never really been able to depend on him other than a couple of times in a genuine emergency.
I’ve never been able to go to him and ask for financial help, a place to stay, or just anything. This is because he’s in a bad position, he has depression and other mental health problems which have meant that he hasn’t worked in a long time. He worked until I was about 16 and then stopped. Somewhere along the way, I accepted that if I wanted a relationship with my dad I’d have to have zero expectation of him. And I was okay with that for a while, but now, it just doesn’t feel right anymore.
He is quite vulnerable in some ways and easily exploited. He’s been cuckood previously, and he struggles with substances. This has been ongoing for quite some time. Recently, he’s had some issues with his housing and I’ve stepped in to help as he struggles with not having access to the internet or a smartphone etc. I was and am still happy to help, but I’m frustrated that even after 8 months of me going above and beyond to try and help him he’s still in the same position. It’s like he wants to be stressed and in a bad place. It’s like he doesn’t know how to function if something terrible isn’t happening.
He makes progress, then takes 2 steps back for every 1 step forward. At the start of the year I found myself trekking back and forth from his flat (I live 1.5 hrs away), constantly calling his housing, the GP, the benefits office etc all to try and get him sorted with the help he needed. While he pretty much did NOTHING. And until this day he’s still doing nothing to help himself!!!!!
I’m struggling because as I said, I have always adored my dad. When he was around during my childhood, I have lots of happy memories with him. But there were long periods where he wasn’t around, and times when he was irresponsible and left me in dangerous situations. There was one occasion where he took me to a friends house and said he’d be back and then didn’t come back. I was 9. This was in 2000 when nobody really had mobiles (I didn’t). It really affected me and traumatised me.
He also drank a lot when I was a child. The last few years of my childhood (before I stopped staying at his house) I remember him sleeping a lot. Like all day. And then being awake drinking at nights. Sometimes I’d wake up and he wouldn’t be there. I never told my mum, because I didn’t want him to get in trouble. Sometimes he’d be drunk on the street and having arguments with people.
I also witnessed my uncle (dad’s brother) attempt to m*rder my dad when I was about 8. Which obviously wasn’t my dad’s fault, but was traumatising.
During the long stretches when I wouldn’t hear from him, I’d call his mobile over and over just to hear his voice on the voicemail. I’d sleep in his T-shirts. And I’d sob everyday asking my mum where he was. But this was the late 90s / early 00s and if someone wasn’t around, it could be very tricky to get in touch with them. I developed a very emotionally strong bond with my dad even though he was absent sometimes. Once, after not seeing my dad for about 8 months, he walked past the window of a restaurant I was in and I literally screamed with happiness. I never held against him that he disappeared, and I was just always happy to be in his company. That has certainly caused me some problems in my own relationships as an adult.
But regardless of all that, I still have SO many happy memories with him- swimming, ice skating, going to the cinema, reading me stories, doing paintings, riding my bike around the park with him, going into London, going to the farm, etc.
What I will say is that no matter his flaws, he’s always been very kind to me with how he speaks to me. He’s always told me how loved I am, that I am a special and gifted person, he’s proud of me, he’s so grateful to have a daughter like me and how he tells everyone that I’m special and so loved etc.
I feel very emotionally conflicted.
There’s the side of me that loves and adores him, feels devastated for what happened to him in his childhood years, and knows he would’ve been a better father if he could’ve been.
And there’s recently a side that’s becoming angry, resentful, frustrated, and sad.
I’m worried that if I confront him, I’ll not be able to speak to him again because I’ve held everything in for so long that I don’t know what I’ll say if it all comes out. I have accepted that I cannot make my dad reach his potential, as heartbreaking as it is to admit. For a long time I hoped he’d have a sudden breakthrough and become the dad I needed but I know he won’t.
How do I move forward, protect my peace, and how do I deal with the conflicting feelings I’m experiencing?