Feeling loved and cared for by family members is important to the mental and physical well-being of a kid.
But not every family relationship is strong enough to support your kid’s development. If you feel that “my family don’t bother with my child“, you are not the only one facing this problem.
Family turmoil and cold attitudes towards adult children on a regular basis can lead them to depression, anxiety, and other emotional issues.
Thus, learning the reasons behind this bad behavior and knowing how to deal with a difficult relationship can be helpful. We’re here to help you with that.
Don’t worry! Let’s get started.
How Common Is Estrangement In Families?
Family estrangement is one of the biggest family situations. This refers to a case when a family member feels distant from others because he/she feels that it’s a damn family and some are awful people.
Usually, this is a sign of a dysfunctional family, making family life difficult to face.
In the US, surveys show that at least 27% of people experience family estrangement in their adult life.
For children, this proportion is lower, but remember that child estrangement is even more dangerous and can cause a high level of frustration as children are more vulnerable and sensitive.
My Family Don’t Bother With My Child – Why?
Being together with nice people in a family is great for your children, but this is not always the case.
Sometimes, you need to cope with annoying behaviors from awful people, such as ignoring your kids and showing no love to them.
What causes parent/child estrangement? Here are some reasons behind this bad behavior.
They Are Irresponsible
There are grandparents who don’t care about their grandkids. Such ignorance and indifference towards your grown daughter or son is an indicator of irresponsible behavior.
Your parents, partner’s parents, siblings, and other relatives stay uninvolved because they don’t see the responsibility to do so.
They would think that that is your child, so it would be normal behavior when you are the person who takes care of them. That is none of their business.
They Are Too Selfish
Difficult people with self-centered character and narcissistic behavior would contribute to a damn family when love is not given or given conditionally.
They direct full attention to their life choices and how to get benefits and money from people instead of caring much about family situations. Hence, they don’t bother with your child.
They Have Some Problems With You
Easy-going people won’t mind some conflict with you in the past, but difficult people will.
Sometimes, they take it out on your grown daughter or son by mistreating or having annoying behaviors.
Your Child Is Not Their Flesh And Blood
This might be the main cause if you are in a stepfamily.
Nothing would happen if your new family were nice people; otherwise, these new guys can turn out to be dangerous for your kids.
An additional stepparent can behave badly toward the partner’s daughter or son. Sometimes, a child sex abuse scandal occurs and leaves long-lasting emotional scars for the offspring.
The situation is even worse if you are not on good terms with your partner’s parents.
How Do You Know When Your Family Doesn’t Care About Your Child?
They Favor Other Children Over Your Child
Do your family praise your child’s siblings and others but ignore him/her?
This irresponsible behavior is more common in a stepfamily when an additional step parent and their relatives will have preferential treatment for their kids.
They Don’t See Your Child Frequently
In Hispanic families, closeness is considered the most important value of a family.
If grandparents don’t spend time with grandchildren and say they are busy with their schedule, that might be a problem.
While it is acceptable to have various levels of communication with your relatives, no contact is a clear indication that they do not care for your daughter/son.
They Abuse Your Child
It is OK to leave the baby with grandparents if they adore their grandkids. But when they act cruelly and aggressively toward their child, this truly raises the alarm about the severity of the problem.
Some examples include neglecting your child’s basic physical needs or using words to show children they are worthless.
They Don’t Make Your Child Feel Loved And Respected
The estrangement becomes more serious and obvious when your child realizes that “my family doesn’t care about me”.
Grandparents ignore their grandchildren or are not there when the kid needs help. Another example is that his stepfather or stepmom always wants to have a baby and completely ignores his feelings.
How To Improve The Situation When My Family Ignores My Child?
When your family seems to cross you and your child out of all the family milestones, talk with them first to find out the roots.
If things don’t get any better after a talk, try to shift your focus on your work and your child by loving him more to complement the lack of affection.
Talk With Family Members About It
Having some discussions with people involved is what you need to do first.
Explain to them how you think about everything and that it’s time for them to reevaluate their treatment of your children.
Show them that their mistreatment and annoying behaviors adversely impact your offspring’s mental health. You should be adamant and set the time limit.
Let them know that you won’t compromise. They’ll need to change their attitude toward your child, or you’ll stop communicating with them.
Shift Your Focus
Is it normal to not want to be around your family? Yes! Don’t be afraid of losing a relative if you feel that their attitude cannot be changed. That’s when you need to let you and your child get out of such a toxic relationship.
Caring For Your Child’s Emotions More
As parents, the first thing you should do for your children is to give them much more love and care to compensate for the emotional impacts they suffer from others.
This way can partly help your child feel better and make him believe that he has someone to count on.
It would help if you also kept a watchful eye on your child’s mental well-being.
A long period of being ignored might have long-term consequences for their physical, emotional, and mental health.
Ask the therapist for medical advice or make your kid receive treatment immediately if you think everything is getting worse.
Conclusion
Why family don’t bother with my child? With the information we reveal here, now you can answer these questions.
Losing the protection and care from their family can be at risk of impaired cognitive and emotional development.
Realizing the problems soon and finding ways to solve them is the duty of parents to ensure a better early childhood environment for their offspring.
