The Mother’s Day and Father’s Day seasons can be difficult for many people.
Whether they have lost their parents, have a poor relationship with them, or don’t have one at all, those holidays can be both painful and stressful.
Dawn, AKA “Fired Mom” on TikTok, has opened up a conversation about why parent-centric conversations can be challenging for mothers and fathers who have been cut off by their children, as well.
She’s built a platform on the story of her estrangement and a self-proclaimed journey to go “from estranged to empowered.” Unfortunately, her attempts at receiving sympathy haven’t been met with as much love and grace as she may have hoped.
She shared with her followers the reason her daughter-in-law had finally cut her off. Dawn explained that she had a serious concussion that caused erratic mood swings and irrational behavior during her daughter-in-law’s pregnancy, apparently leading to the final straw in their relationship.
Dawn has, however, been cut off from all three of her children. She says they called her emotionally abusive, a claim which she denied, instead saying he was emotionally neglectful during their childhoods because she had to parent alone.
She explained that she’s apologized for her behavior during her daughter-in-law’s pregnancy several times, and has even been to therapy in hopes of learning how to rekindle a relationship with her children.
Children of estranged parents aren’t buying her story, and they’re being very vocal about it online, particularly in her TikTok comment section. Some people say that their own mother often coincidentally suffers some sort of ailment or injury every time a woman in the family has a milestone, like a pregnancy, to focus some attention back on themselves.
Others simply noted that the way she told the story told them everything that they needed to know, and they were proud of her children for setting boundaries. Many viewers found Dawn’s story to be self-serving, and said it explained nothing and everything at the same time.
Hundreds of sons and daughters took to the comments, thanking her for reminding them why they shouldn’t break no-contact with their own mothers.
Several even took an opportunity to use Dawn’s story as an example of why they cut off their parents, and spell out behaviors and languages that she has used that are often buzzwords for parents who aren’t ready to rekindle their relationship with their children.
It’s been pointed out that medical issues are not an excuse for maltreatment, and that Dawn’s therapist’s point that her daughter-in-law wasn’t on her side was an obvious one, seeing as spouses are meant to be a team. One woman said that if her husband took her estranged father’s side, he wouldn’t be her husband anymore.
Even the mere fact that other family members refused to take her side and that he didn’t reach out for help for two years after her estrangement, seems to tell the internet everything they need to know.
People are calling the TikTok community she has built an “echo chamber,” noting that the ideology and buzzwords she uses were toxic justifications for her past behavior. One user even said Dawn is “weaponizing therapy.”
Regardless of the people in her comments, Dawn has continued to defend herself and other parents that she feels were unjustly on the other end of an estrangement. She shared a video talking about millennials who have become parents, and who as a result realized they may have unjustly cut their own parents out of their lives and overreacted to what they endured during their own upbringing.
She encouraged people to look at the parents from a new perspective, citing that many of them had just been a product of their own troubled upbringing. She says that many of these children aren’t “seeing the full picture.” Dawn believes that many of these parents have been “villainized.”
She has accrued more than 20 thousand followers who share her perspective and feel seen by her content, but that hasn’t stopped the children of those “villainized” parents from commenting and sharing how harmful they believe her content to be.
The only thing Dawn’s supporters and her opposers can agree on is that Mother’s and Father’s Day can be especially difficult for those with broken parent-child relationships. Those who find this time of year challenging are encouraged to take care of themselves and do some gentle reflection on their role as a son, daughter, and parent.