🫂 What it means to have grown up with a needy parent
Growing up with a needy parent meant your childhood ended early as you became the emotional caretaker for someone who needed parenting more than you did.
You may have found yourself managing your parent's emotions, solving their problems, and carrying responsibilities that belonged to the adults around you. While your friends were playing and being children, you were fielding calls from creditors, mediating family conflicts, or comforting a parent through their latest crisis. You became alarmingly good at caregiving—a skill born from necessity that now makes others marvel at how responsible and capable you are.
This experience gave you extraordinary emotional intelligence and problem-solving abilities, but it came at a steep price. You may now find it easier to take care of others than to let others take care of you. Asking for help might feel foreign and uncomfortable, and you might secretly believe that your value comes from what you can do for others rather than who you are as a person.