Having a no-contact adult child can be not only painful, but genuinely confusing.

They might agree to receive texts from you, but not reply to any texts you send.

Maybe they tell you they love you, even as they continue to create distance.

When you stop contacting them at their request, why do they then claim you don’t care about them?

What’s going on? What do they want? How can you figure that out if they won’t talk to you? In this reassuring episode, Tina Gilbertson suggests that maybe you don’t have to.

Generally speaking, mixed messages are not a sign that your adult child is mentally ill or worse, messing with you. Instead, they can be an unconscious expression of ambivalence or a reflection of normal developmental changes in young or recently launched adults.

For much more on relationships between parents and adult children, including what goes wrong and how to respond effectively, read Tina's book, Reconnecting With Your Estranged Adult Child.

Reconnection Club members can discuss this and every episode in the General Discussion forum inside the Reconnection Club.

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EPISODE LINKS:

Reconnection Club Podcast Ep. 171: Understanding Ambivalence