90+ Best Toxic Parents Quotes That Make You Cry
What’s the most toxic relationship with parents or friends you can have? Some might say it’s when you fight with your spouse every day, or when you can’t get along with one of your siblings. Those are both bad, but they pale in comparison to the toxicity of parents who care more about themselves than they do about their own children.
“Many toxic parents compare one sibling unfavorably with another to make the target child feel that he's not doing enough to gain parental affection. This motivates the child to do whatever the parents want in order to regain their favor. This divide-and-conquer technique is often unleashed against children who become a little too independent, threatening the balance of the family system.” ― Susan Forward
“A child, without toxic interference, will naturally become the person they are meant to be. André Chevalier” ― Nikki
“Just because someone is your family doesn’t mean you have to keep them around if they are toxic or abusive. Don’t let people guilt you.” ― Winnie Nantongo
“I learned a long time ago that it's not our fault if our parents are monsters. We can't take responsibility for that, or we're twice damaged. All we can do is try to go forward in a different way.” ― Cinda Williams Chima
Instead of promoting healthy development, they unconsciously undermine it, often with the belief that they are acting in their child’s best interest. -Susan Forward
You can learn, but you’ve got to give yourself time to pick up the basics, to practice, and maybe even to fail once or twice. -Susan Forward
“It hurts to have a child removed from you for no reason at all. But think about the pain of the child who is being used to hurt you. Now that’s painful.”
“Respond to your children with love in their worst moments, their broken moments, their angry moments, and their selfish moments because it is in their most unlovable human moments that they most need to be feel loved.”
“When you have a child, your “wants” come lost. It’s about their needs & wants first. If you can’t do that, you don’t deserve to be a parent.”
“Too much love never spoils children. Children become spoiled when we substitute “presents” for “presence.”
Toxic parenting leaves scars. Every child deserves good parenting. It is a parental responsibility, not a privilege. – TCMD
Toxic Parents Quotes
- “Most adult children of toxic parents grow up feeling tremendous confusion about what love means and how it’s supposed to feel. ” -Dr. Susan Forward
- “Many toxic parents compare one sibling unfavorably with another to make the target child feel that he's not doing enough to gain parental affection. This motivates the child to do whatever the parents want in order to regain their favor. This divide-and-conquer technique is often unleashed against children who become a little too independent, threatening the balance of the family system.” -Susan Forward
- “Nothing is weaker or smaller than the man who hurts women or children whether by his actions or by his words.”
- A narcissistic parent is easily frustrated by a healthy independent child that they can’t control through parental emotional manipulation. – SHANNON THOMAS
- They should love you, just as you are. Parents should love their kids right? You’d think so. – N.R. WALKER
- The hateful and stinging words of a narcissistic parent can linger in the mind of an adult child long after the adult has left home. – SHANNON THOMAS
- A child’s shoulders were not built to bear the weight of their parent’s choices. – TOBY MAC
- I have a gaping painful hole in my soul where good, loving parents and a normal, safe childhood should have been. – LILY HOPE LUCARIO
- It is of no use arguing with toxic parents who have manipulative and controlling behavior. To them, they are always right and you, are wrong. – KINDLE HEALTHCARE
- Most adult children of toxic parents grow up feeling tremendous confusion about what love means and how it’s supposed to feel. – SUSAN FORWARD
- It has been my observation that parents kill more dreams than anybody. – SPIKE LEE
- It is a violation of trust to use your kids as caulking for the cracks in you. – ANNE LAMOTT
- Some scars don’t hurt, are numb, and some, rid you of the capacity to feel anything ever again. – JOYCE RACHELLE
- No one, however powerful and successful, can function as an adult if his parents are not satisfied with him. – FRANK PITMAN
- Children might or might not be a blessing, but to create them and then fail them was surely damnation. – LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD
“Children who are not encouraged to do, to try, to explore, to master, and to risk failure, often feel helpless and inadequate. Over-controlled by anxious, fearful parents, these children often become anxious and fearful themselves. This makes it difficult for them to mature. Many never outgrow the need for ongoing parental guidance and control. As a result, their parents continue to invade, manipulate, and frequently dominate their lives.” ― Susan Forward
Quotes About Toxic Parents
- “When a child does bad things, the parents are always going to love their child even if they do something bad.” – Selena
- “It was a mixed blessing to have famous parents. It was tough to go to auditions and be bad since I couldn’t be anonymous.” – Ben Stiller
- “I’m concerned about the insidious influence of the media’s bad messages that undermine the lessons parents try to instill in their sons and daughters.” – John Ratzenberger
- “Losing a parent over eight years is a very dark journey. I spent the first four years feeling bad and angry and sorry for myself.” – Lauren Miller
- “You don’t bad-mouth your ex or anything like that. The key is your kid knowing that both parents still love him and are there for him.” – Dennis Quaid
- “Too many people try to please their parents. My parents were Republicans, which is too bad, but they allowed me to be who I wanted to be.” – Grace Slick
- “I hate the bad rap that people give my parents. Because they are just parents, really, at the end of the day trying to stand up for their daughter and themselves.” – Lindsay Lohan
- “My parents are really funny. Laughter was a big part of my childhood. Of course, they tell a lot of bad jokes – but so do I. I tell a lot of bad jokes.” – Cecily Strong
- “Don’t worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you.” – Robert Fulghum
- “If you bungle raising your children, I don’t think whatever else you do matters very much.” – Jackie Kennedy
- “I’m not a parenting expert. In fact, I’m not sure that I even believe in the idea of ‘parenting experts.’ I’m an engaged, imperfect parent and a passionate researcher. I’m an experienced mapmaker and a stumbling traveler. Like many of you, parenting is by far my boldest and most daring adventure.” – Brene Brown
- “At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child’s success is the positive involvement of parents.” – Jane D. Hull
- “It is the selfish parents who are to blame. Pay attention, be involved in your children’s lives. They are your legacy, your only hope.” — Aaron B. Powell
- “Instead of treating your child like how you were treated. Treat them with the same love and attention you wanted from your parents while growing up.”
- “They should love you, just as you are. Parents should love their kids, right?” “You’d think so.” ― N.R. Walker
“Unhealthy families discourage individual expression. Everyone must conform to the thoughts and actions of toxic parents. ” -- Dr. Susan Forward
Bad Parent's Quotes That Will Blow Your Mind
- “Instead of treating your child like how you were treated. Treat them with the same love and attention you wanted from your parents while growing up.” ― Jonathan Anthony Burkett
- “They should love you, just as you are. Parents should love their kids, right?"
- "You'd think so.” ― N.R. Walker
- “If mental abuse was a punishable crime, a lot of parents would be in jail serving a long term.”― Maddy Malhotra
- “Being a bad parent is a sign of not having learned from experience.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana
- “Unhappiness in a child accumulates because he sees no end to the dark tunnel. The thirteen weeks of a term might just as well be thirteen years.” – Graeme Greene
- “When you have children, there is no room for lies, no room for anything but the truth. Anything other than that is a bad example, I believe.” – Johnny Depp
- “Instead of treating your child like how you were treated. Treat them with the same love and attention you wanted from your parents while growing up.” – Jonathan Anthony Burkett
- “If mental abuse was a punishable crime, a lot of parents would be in jail serving a long term.” – Maddy Malhotra
- “It hurts real bad to have that protection barrier between parent and child.” – Susan Smith
- “My parents’ generation’s benchmark was simple: Fat Equals Bad.” – Arabella Weir
- “Being a parent does not give you an excuse for bad manners.” – Rosalind Wiseman
- “I’m not a bad parent and partner, even if I make a thousand mistakes.” – Diane Lane
- “A strong conviction that something must be done is the parent of many bad measures.” – Daniel Webster
- “It is not a bad thing that children should occasionally, and politely, put parents in their place.” – Sidonie Gabrielle Colette
- “The government cannot overcome bad parenting. What our leaders can do is publicly condemn irresponsible parental behavior in vivid terms.” – Bill O’Reilly
- “Shame and guilt are the results of glory founded on selfish ideas.”
- “Nobody will be able to compete with him if he falls in love with himself.”
- “I don’t need a reason to exist, and I don’t need anyone’s permission to exist. I’m the warrant, as well as the sentence.”
- “I swear, by my life and the love I have for it, that I will never live for another man’s sake, nor will I ask another man to live for mine.”
- “I hope to one day be able to love as passionately and selflessly as parents do for their children.”
- “There are many things that we would throw away if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.”
Selfish Parents Quotes
Sometimes it’s hard to be a parent, but it’s even harder when you can’t take care of your children. Being a selfish parent is one of the worst things someone can do. These quotes about narcissistic parents might make you cry. Bad parenting has taken many forms over the years: neglect, abuse, and just plain old bad judgment and refusal to listen. Toxic parents are often more concerned with themselves than they are with their own children; they don’t have their best interests at heart. When kids grow up in toxic households, they sometimes end up being terrible spouses or partners as adults because they learned that people couldn’t always be trusted—and that became their model for how people were supposed to treat them. This post will contain disturbing material and may not be appropriate for everyone. Read on if you think you’re strong enough...or if you want to add any comments of your own!
- “Children shouldn’t have to sacrifice so that you can have the life you want. You make sacrifices so your children can have the life that they deserve.”
- “As a parent, you should be more concerned with your child’s happiness than your petty insecurities and jealousies. Just a thought!
- “Your mother’s happiness is not your responsibility. It has never been.”
- “Anyone can have a child and call themselves “a parent”. A real parent is someone who puts that child above their own selfish needs and wants.”
- “Real dads support their children without the law telling them they have to.”
- “Your children become who you are; so be who you want them to be.”
- “Don’t anger your parents in order to please other people. Those other people did not spend their lives building yours.”
- “To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today.”
- “Just remember when you ignore them, you teach them to live without you.”
- “Being a selfish parent is a sign of not having learned from experience.”
- “Parents forgive their children least readily for the faults they themselves instilled in them.”
- “Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes.”
- “I want someday to be able to love with the same intensity and unselfishness that parents love their children with.”
- “Selfish people lost so much in life because even when they realize they are wrong, they don’t know how to ask for forgiveness or show regrets.”
- “It is the selfish parents who are to blame. Pay attention, and be involved in your children’s lives. They are your legacy, your only hope.” — Aaron B. Powell
- “Instead of treating your child like how you were treated. Treat them with the same love and attention you wanted from your parents while growing up.”
Bad Parents Quotes
Being a parent does not give you an excuse for bad manners. Rosalind Wiseman
Fear based parenting is the surest way to create intimidated children. Tim Kimmel
Good parenting gives headaches but bad parenting gives heartaches. Shiv Khera
There are no illegitimate children – only illegitimate parents. Leon R. Yankwich
Remember, you are not managing an inconvenience; You are raising a human being. Kittie Frantz
It’s amazing how people can change behind closed doors. Susan Forward.
Parents are the last people on earth who ought to have children. Samuel Butler
Wounded parents often unintentionally inflict pain and suffering on their children … David W. Earle
I’m worried about parents who aren’t parenting. Barbara Bush
We raise predators by treating children as prey. Stefan Molyneux
Kids are fat because of a lack of parenting. Ben Shapiro
You shouldn’t do that. Not to your child. You should carry your own burdens. Cassandra Clare
An unpredictable parent is a fearsome god in the eyes of a child. Susan Forward.
If your parents ignored you, or if they are just not emotionally available, or if they yell a lot, that is a type of trauma. Tucker Max
Spanking a child is about the parent, not the child. The child will learn more from positive correction than physical manipulation. Asa Don Brown
… the majority of parents, without knowing it and without intending it, give very bad examples to their children. Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot
What lingers from the parent’s individual past, unresolved or incomplete, often becomes part of her or his irrational parenting. Virginia Satir
Permissiveness is the principle of treating children as if they were adults; and the tactic of making sure they never reach that stage. Thomas Szasz
Toxic Mother quotes
Toxic mothers always remain the strangest, craziest people we’ve ever met. Marguerite Duras.
I was worthy of her love whether she gave it to me or not. Every child is worthy of love. Richard Paul Evans.
My toxic mother can only intimidate me if I let her. While she’s busy trying to bully the child I, the adult can reject her, ignore her, or report her to authorities. Rayne Wolf.
Any mother that could be cruel to a child is not going to apologize to that child when they have grown up. Rayne Wolf.
Toxic mothers plant seeds of guilt, low self-esteem, and low self-worth into their daughters which further manifests when those daughters get into their own relationships making them extremely needy or even toxic just like their own moms. Trialsandtests.
Daughters often get their toxic behaviour from their toxic mothers which they later import into their own relationships in the future. Trialsandtests.
Your mother may be toxic or verbally and emotionally abusive towards you but you need to still love, honour and thank her for the gift of life she gave you not because she deserves your love but because you love, value yourself and know that your self-worth and value isn’t dependent on anyone, including your allegedly toxic mom. Trialsandtests.
Very often, toxic moms will abandon their own children and find meaningless excuses to justify their deeds as to why they are not able to be there for their children. Trialsandtests.
You don’t have to feel guilty if you have to distance yourself for a while from your toxic mom if she becomes too toxic to be around her in peace without causing any drama. Trialsandtests.
Sometimes, loving your toxic mom and sending her sweet love letters reminding her that you always be her dear child and always love her no matter what from a distance can be the best revenge to help your toxic mom come to her senses. Trialsandtests.
Narcissist mothers teach their daughters that love is not unconditional, that it is given only when they behave by maternal expectations and whims. Dr McBride.
Boys and girls of narcissistic mothers both have to deal with a deficit of maternal nurturing that their upbringing lacked. Mark Bans chick.
“If someone gets angry at you for setting a boundary, consider that a good sign that the boundary was necessary.” — Jenna Korf
“Without communication, there is no relationship; without respect, there is no love; without trust, there is no reason to continue.” — Unknown
“Just because someone gives you life doesn’t mean they will love you in the right way.” — Unknown
“Family is supposed to be our safest haven. Very often, it’s the place we find the deepest heartache.” — Lyanla Vansant
“A child should never feel as if they need to earn a mother’s love.” — Sherrie Campbell
“How to tell if someone is not good for you? You being yourself feels like a betrayal.” — Unknown
Toxic Father quotes
- “He broke promises, was abusive physically and mentally, never was around and caused my life to be a living hell.” – Anonymous
- “When a father, absent during the day, returns home at six, his children receive only his temperament, not his teaching.” – Robert Bly
- “Real dads support their children without the law telling them they have to.” – Anonymous
- “Fathers, you are the head and strength of the family unit. If you are not in place, there is a weakness in the link.” – Anonymous
- “You can always leave your childhood trauma your abusive mom or dad behind. Never be a victim.” – Anonymous
- “No matter how toxic your parents might be, you still have a need to deify them. Even if you understand, on one level, that your father was wrong to beat you, you may still believe he was justified. Intellectual understanding is not enough to convince your emotions that you were not responsible.” – Dr. Susan Forward
- “There’s nothing worse than a man that can be everything to everybody else except a father to their own child.” – Anonymous
- “Let’s get out of the habit of telling people, ‘That’s still your mom, your dad, or your sister.’ Toxic is toxic. You are allowed to walk away from people that constantly hurt you.” – Anonymous
- “I have a horrible time trying to figure out who I am, what I want, or what I need. I’m just beginning to figure it out. The hardest part is for me to like myself. Every time I try, I hear Daddy telling me what an awful kid I was.” – Dr. Susan Forward
- “Manipulation and control are favorite weapons abusive dads often use on their children for control.” – Anonymous
- “Unless a father accepts his faults he will most certainly doubt his virtues.” – Anonymous
Telling your child that you love them is easy; telling them why you love them requires true courage. It takes a great deal of bravery to acknowledge your own faults and flaws in front of a child who looks up to you as an example. But it is only by acknowledging our own pain that we can hope to stop inflicting it on others.