Reconnecting with Your Estranged Adult Child: Tina Gilbertson

When your adult child won't talk to you (or your spouse), it's heart-breaking. You feel sad whenever you think about it, which is often. You wonder what you did to deserve this, if anything. Maybe you're angry — why does he or she have to do this to you, or to the family? You feel embarrassed when asked about your child. You don't know what to tell people. It's humiliating … and so very sad, not to be able to talk about your own child with pride and ease. Not to be able to talk to your own child is more painful than anyone who hasn't been through it can readily understand. In that sense, estrangement is a problem that isolates you. You feel like you're the only parent in the world living with this awful situation. But you're not. There are ways to reconnect. Let us explore them.