Comments on: The rise of family estrangement

By: bluebird of bitterness

bluebird of bitterness — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 00:59:09 +0000

This really hits a nerve with me. My family is dwindling fast — our parents are long gone, as are our eldest and youngest brothers (one from complications of diabetes and obesity, the other from drug and alcohol abuse), so now only three of us remain. At 71 I am the youngest. Both of my surviving siblings have ghosted me; neither one has spoken to me in years. Yes, we have our differences, politically and religiously, but I’m perfectly able and willing to be friendly with people who don’t share my beliefs. Apparently they are not. It makes me terribly sad. You’d never know it to see us now, but we used to be a close family.

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 17:49:12 +0000

And of course, there was an enormous political divide on shows like “All in the Family,” but they still spent lots of time with each other.
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Mr. A. Bunker, warehouse employee, union member, and WWii veteran, accepted into his home his son-in-law. The son-in-law was in school the whole time (while the daughter worked) and extended to his father-in-law neither affection nor respect (and eventually started cheating on Mr. A. Bunker’s daughter). It’s indicative of Rob Reiner’s stupidity that he said 40 years after the fact that people like Mr. A. Bunker “should be marginalized”.

By: Art Deco

Art Deco — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 17:40:39 +0000

Perhaps he has. Perhaps the new spouse — and new in-laws — reveal merely by contrast that the guff he has put up with is not simply families, it’s his family being abusive.
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It’s not inevitable, but it is something you should expect – that your family compares favorably to your in-laws or your in-laws compare favorably to your family – and to a degree which trumps your preference for the familiar or your natural loyalties.

By: Mary Catelli

Mary Catelli — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 17:13:15 +0000

Incidentally, do you have a link for the children side? Because the article you provided — assumes a lot.

“Suddenly, the adult child comes to believe he or she has had a long history of problems with the parent.”

Perhaps he has. Perhaps the new spouse — and new in-laws — reveal merely by contrast that the guff he has put up with is not simply families, it’s his family being abusive.

By: Mary Catelli

Mary Catelli — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 17:08:56 +0000

You should check out that site I posted

By: neo

neo — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 01:09:31 +0000

Mary Catelli:

Yes, as reported by the children. Very petty nit-picky reasons they cut their parents off. Or politics, particularly leftist children with parents who voted for Trump, even if the parents don’t argue politics with the children. The children cut them off for just being on the right.

And no, it doesn’t go in the other direction very often.

By: Mary Catelli

Mary Catelli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 23:10:22 +0000

As reported by the children? Because there are certainly parents who *say* that their children cut them off for not approving all their actions, even while betraying that they expected the children to do only what they approved of.

By: Snow on Pine

Snow on Pine — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 22:00:34 +0000

Talk about rejection!

What I want to know is, how Kristi Noem ever got a security clearance, much less the Cabinet post of Director of Homeland Security, when her husband was such a freak?

I had a Secret security clearance when I was in the military, and the security investigators even went back and interviewed my grade school teachers.

According to the news story linked below, Noem’s husband, Bryon, was apparently doing some rather flamboyant carrying on on the Internet.*

How was his twisted carrying on not turned up?

* See https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/04/kristi-noems-husband-bryon-allegedly-discussed-leaving-her/

By: neo

neo — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 20:29:34 +0000

Ben David:

That’s not what I’ve seen at all, either online or in the regular world.

There are some cases of bona fide alcoholic or drug-addicted or otherwise extremely dysfunctional parents (or children) being cut off. But for every one of those, there are more who report cutting parents off for far more ordinary “offenses” such as not automatically approving of everything they do.

Plus, a ton of politically-motivated cutoff, almost always from leftist offspring to conservative parents.

By: Mary Catelli

Mary Catelli — Sat, 11 Apr 2026 19:19:47 +0000

You can certainly find a number of articles over time about family estrangement.
The one I remember best was about a book, and it covered a story from the book. A man brought his girlfriend home, and there was trouble. One of the complaints was that he would complain about how they treated the girlfriend. Finally he cut them off, and his mother says she doesn’t know what she did wrong, he should tell her, and she would apologize.