Everyone wants to keep their home clean and neat because it just feels so much better to have an organized space, but most folks also know that’s not always possible. Also, with many family members at home, or different personality types, sometimes messiness is to be expected.
This is what a mom obsessed with cleanliness just couldn’t come to terms with, and so she went to the extent of even trying to control how her kids folded their clothes. This obviously frustrated her children and led to one of her teens breaking down and leaving.
Trying to always control everything that goes on in one’s home might make everyone else living there sometimes feel on edge
Image credits: Curated Lifestyle / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The poster shared that since she was obsessed with keeping things organized, she felt annoyed by the way her kids folded their clothes and wanted to correct them
Image credits: Curated Lifestyle / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
One day, she began throwing her daughter’s clothes on the floor while the teen was on a call with her boyfriend, and this led the girl to break down in tears
Image credits: clothesindrawers
Image credits: Monika Grabkowska / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The poster’s daughter decided to move in with her aunt for a while and urged her mother to get mental help for being so controlling, which shocked the mom
Image credits: Kateryna Hliznitsova/ Unsplash (not the actual photo)
The woman later mentioned that that moment had been a reality check for her, which pushed her to seek therapy and realize she had obsessive-compulsive disorder
Image credits: clothesindrawers
Although the poster knew that she had a long way to go with her treatment for OCD, she apologized to her kids and resolved to do better
As the mom in this post had mentioned, she had always been a cleanliness f***k and expected her children to keep everything neat and organized in their rooms. This meant that even the way they folded their clothes had to fit her standards, and since it obviously didn’t, she would often get annoyed with them.
It’s normal to expect one’s kids to follow rules and try to keep their rooms tidy, but it starts becoming a problem when a parent tries to control their every move. Even psychologists agree that healthy parenting allows children to be autonomous individuals and doesn’t stifle their choices or decisions.
It definitely seemed like the OP was trying to control how clean her kids kept their rooms, and she finally took things too far one day by dumping out her daughter's clothes on the floor as punishment. She didn’t even realize how distressed her actions had made her daughter feel until she heard her crying.
When parents are aggressive or overly demanding with their children, like this, therapists say that it can cause a lot of conflicts and rifts in their relationship over time. Kids often don’t understand why their parents are acting in this cold and controlling manner, which is why they might feel helpless in such situations.
Image credits: EyeEm / Freepik (not the actual photo)
After the OP messed up her daughter’s clothes, the teen decided to move in with her aunt for a while because she couldn’t deal with her mom’s behavior. She even urged the poster to seek therapy so that she could be less controlling. All of this came as a wake-up call to the OP, and she finally realized how her actions were affecting her kids.
Even after posting her story online, she received a lot of backlash from netizens who told her how having such a mean parent had negatively impacted their lives. That’s when she decided to talk to a psychologist, and got to know that she had obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and needed to be treated for it.
According to research, OCD is a chronic condition in which an individual might experience unwanted and recurring obsessions that are disruptive to their life. These repetitive thoughts and behaviors can put a big strain on them as well as the folks in their lives, which is exactly what had been happening to the poster and her family.
Although the woman has a long way to go with her treatment, it’s wonderful that she took the first step to seek help and become better for the sake of her loved ones. Her conflict with her daughter must have been painful, but it was truly the reality check she needed in that moment to make a change.
What would you have done if you were in the daughter’s place? Let us know your thoughts and opinions on this story.
Folks were glad that the woman had sought therapy to deal with her controlling behavior
