#setting limits

I will be up front on this one: I am not an expert on parenting. I have one child, who is nine years old. I’ve done lots of reading and lots of child care over the years, though, so I hope I can share some good, solid tips that will help us all. Pinnable image branded for Actually ADHD, with a picture of a parent bear and its baby, with the post title in the lower right. Most parenting material…

Apart from the life-saving choice to go No Contact with an abuser, refusing to communicate (the silent treatment in all its forms) is emotional abuse.

Many people don’t recognize it as such because a parent or other caregiver used the silent treatment to manipulate them in their early life.

When someone is refusing to communicate with you, that feels awful because it IS awful. It’s abusive. It’s a gigantic red flag of an emotional manipulator and abuser.

Create boundaries around that behavior. Call it out for what it is, and say that you need it to stop. Express clearly what action you need instead.

If someone is giving you a form of the silent treatment, chances are that is something that was done to them as a child. It’s a learned pattern.

Compassionate communication can involve taking breaks from the conversation when emotions heat up, and then coming back to the conversation when you cool down. But refusing to communicate altogether is always harmful to the other person and to the relationship.