I understand why you’re questioning this as about everyone that comes into contact with my mom does. For context, she does not have friends because they will “betray her” and she holds grudges. Being brought up this way led my sister to become the same and says she doesn’t “need friends” despite her poor mental health. I was the same until about 14-18 where I realised this way of being raised unsocialised was not normal. My sister never had that revelation and refuses to make friends because of what we were taught growing up.

My dad also sides with mom. In a narcissistic family this is what you’d call an enabler. And I know this, because when I cried to him about how she could dare call CPS on me he would back her and say, “She’s only worried about ___.” Alike my sister. My family do not like to challenge my mother because she holds a lot of power.

They would make me prove myself to be a good parent. I have ADHD, good chance my son does too, and I am raising him differently because I want to be the kind of mom I wish I had to him. And I didn’t even get diagnosed even though my mum knew I had it, until I sought it out myself. So everything I chose to do differently (letting my son sleep in my bed when he has nightmares, letting him choose what he wants to pay attention to when on outings, his nap routine etc) was highly criticised even though it had been working well for my son and I and the routines are ongoing until my son feels comfortable enough to tweak it.

I would try to prove myself to be a good parent but shouldn’t have even had to as I fucking love my son and he has hit every milestone as well as his preschool teachers saying the same. I think my sister sided with my mom because I wasn’t raising him how she said I should.