Understanding Child Development

Take our Authoritative Parenting Test

Find a child or adolescent therapist near me

Parentification and grief are related

Experiencing grief if you grew up parentified is normal

You can acknowledge, mourn, and accept the loss of your childhood as a means of building a better future

When we think of childhood, many of us think about a simpler, easier time in our lives, when we had few responsibilities and more freedom. However, if you are an adult who grew up parentified, your adulthood likely feels like an extension of a childhood fraught with worry, responsibility, and caretaking. If you’ve ever been with a group of adults where everyone is waxing nostalgic about being kids, and all you can offer is a tight smile and a vacant stare, you’re not alone. Mourning the loss of a childhood when you grew up parentified is a necessary step in moving into a healthier adulthood, as the process of recognition, mourning, and acceptance helps you to acknowledge what you didn’t have while focusing on what you want to build for yourself or for your own children in the........

© Psychology Today