Reply To: Mom is a slob.

I have started therapy a few months ago but its early days. I don’t live with her and haven’t for a long time, but am staying for a short while and her slobbiness is affecting me mentally but also literally (food cross-contamination etc). I’m 30 and live a long distance away. My sister lives a lot closer and has the same frustrations with her.

I agree that my feelings are coming from a place of frustration, because me and my siblings have tried to help her so much over the years only for her to ignore us. She is in a self-inflicted rut. But I do want her to get better because I love her and know she needs professional help.

She definitely isn’t a narcissist, that’s the strange thing – she is wonderfully caring in many ways. But she has always dragged us down with her laziness and apathy.

Thank you for the point that she was also a victim of my father’s abuse. I need to remember that when I think back to her negligence.

Thank you for all your responses, it is helpful to get different perspectives.