Member-only story

Having Narcissistic Parents Makes it Difficult to Maintain Friendships

My best friends are all in my family.

Shoshana Kaufman
7 min readFeb 15, 2021
Photo by Tyler Nix on Unsplash

Today is Family Day in Canada. It’s a statutory holiday invented a few years ago to help strengthen the Canadian family. It sometimes seems a little artificial. Or like it should come with a trigger warning for people who don’t have strong family relationships. People who might feel even more alone and vulnerable on a day like today when so many families are getting together to go skating or or watch hockey or do whatever typical Canadian families do.

I wouldn’t actually know. My Canadian family is anything but typical. But it’s all I have. You see, at age sixty, I don’t really have many friends left. Not because they have all died, although a shocking number of them have. No, it’s because I am not good at friendships.

For many people, friendships are the lifeline.

Friendships are great. I have enjoyed many great friendships in my life. Many of them blossomed from my years as a high school English teacher. Working and collaborating with dedicated colleagues led to wonderful and supportive relationships.

Mostly at work. Some branched out into the wider world. Many of these have faded into Facebook friendships since my retirement last…

--

--

Shoshana Kaufman
Shoshana Kaufman

Written by Shoshana Kaufman

Mother, grandmother, teacher, wife, food lover, spiritual searcher.

Responses (5)