How should you celebrate Mother’s Day when your mother was emotionally abusive? Short answer: You don’t have to celebrate it. Short answer for adult survivors who are mothers: You celebrate your being a mom, and you reflect, pray, and learn about being a better one every day. Last year, I wrote about celebrating Mother’s Day … More Four Sanity-Saving Tips for Ignoring Mother’s Day
TV ads this weekend make all mothers ready for instant canonization… but as readers of The Invisible Scar know, not all mothers are good mothers. So, how do handle a day dedicated to motherhood when your own mother was abusive and so not worthy of gifts or cards? You have two choices: Ignore the day … More How Do You Handle Mother’s Day When Your Mother Was Abusive?
Advertisers during the Thanksgiving season present an exaggerated image of the simple holiday. Sumptuous feasts bring together far-flung relatives. The coolness of the weather chills past arguments and lets bygone be bygones. Moreover, people perpetuate this unreachable ideal by promoting glittery, heavily edited holiday images on their social networks. Unfortunately, the expectation can be so … More Five Ideas for a Peaceful Thanksgiving
For all the beauty of the Christmas season, it can be a difficult time for survivors of emotional child abuse. Whether the adult is estranged from toxic parents or still in contact, the adult often must battle feelings of sorrow, frustration, anger, and loss. At the Invisible Scar, we recognize all those valid feelings… but … More Holiday Survival Tips: 10 Suggestions for an Emotionally Healthy Christmas
For weeks now, the Father’s Day holiday has been advertised in the United States. Images of handsome, strong, adoring fathers flash on television screens; people share photographs on social media platforms of loving fathers, godfathers, and grandfathers. But myriad adult children are estranged from their fathers or they have only painful memories of their deceased … More What to Do About Father’s Day? (Ideas for Estranged Adult Children or Those With Late Abusive Fathers)
The Invisible Scar 