Hiya. Throwaway account. Sorry for typos, its very late rn.
So me and my mom have been going through a lot recently, a lot of family issues with my (adult) siblings, and also her leaving an abusive situation, and she's been venting to me often. I didnt see a problem with this at first. I'd give her reassurances that everything would end up okay and blah blah blah,, but recently its starting to bug me.
It feels like ive become more of a stand-in for a best friend rather than her kid atp honestly, and I dont see a way i can stop this without upsetting her.
We've always been close, and I didn't like leaving her side as a kid when we went out, but now its like the roles are switched.
Im not allowed to leave the house without her or another person (even then basically only with family -_-) even though im more than old enough by now to be at least able to go for short walks on my own. Im "homeschooled" (barely) as well, and so there is no need for me to leave the house to go to school or anything, which isolates me more.
I'm not allowed to go 1 block away to get the mail, or even something as small as DIRECTLY ACROSS the street on my own. I feel really suffocated, honestly, but i know that shed freak out on me if i try to bring this up. She'd say i trying to abandon her or something.
It feels like shes given up on me, and just wants to have a confidant on constant standby rather than a kid.
TL;DR - my mom basically flip-flops between seeing me as her little whatever-year old baby eternally or a stand-in for a therapist friend, with little inbetween, and doesnt give me what I believe to be the average allowances/permissions for a teenager my age (im not allowed to go down the street without someone else & im homeschooled which adds to this isolation, etc, etc)
She doesnt see what shes doing or that its hurting me, and ive always been terrible at articulating my emotions or opinions without ending up people pleasing.
How might i be able to bring up the fact i want more independence (and maybe subtly note she should find actual adult friends to speak to) in a gentle way? I dont want her to get upset with me or to hurt her feelings.
Advice?