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Ask Amy: Elder parents’ views cause concern

Amy Dickinson, Tribune Content Agency on

Dear Amy: I am a 53-year-old woman. I have always been very close to my (now 80-something) parents, but our recent national political drama has forced us into different corners.

I try to think critically and independently. My husband and I have both had more conversations about politics recently than our entire 31 years of marriage.

Now both of my parents are forwarding long email chains full of falsehoods and dangerous conspiracies written by “anonymous” authors and not fact-checked in any way.

They spend time on Facebook posting threads and repeating things which are cringe-worthy and preposterous. They expect me to agree with them or else “forever lose their respect.”

It is breaking my heart that we cannot find other subjects we can discuss without devolving into the same arguments and ugly rhetoric.

I am avoiding their calls and not responding to those emails.

 

I am expected to “pick a team” and have drawn some boundaries, but my dad (especially) is trying to bait me into verbal conflicts, and I’ve had enough.

I feel as if his attempts to trigger me are insulting and hurtful.

I know I’m not alone in alienated family relationships these days, but I’m not sure how much I can take.

I don’t want to spend the last years we have together having arguments about being recruited or evangelized to their “team.”

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