ARE YOU A PARENTAL SON?

We all know that a family is a group of people, ascendants and descendants, who are related to each other, by a kinship, either blood type or legal type, and that is the nucleus where the person acquires their beliefs, principles and fundamental values for its integral development, as well as the basic rules for its life in society.

We also know the importance of parents within this family group, as guarantors of the protection, care and feeding of their children until they reach the age of majority or achieve emancipation.

Undoubtedly, parents occupy a preponderant place in the family. They are the most important people in the life of the individual, their guidance, their support, at least, in theory, this is how it should be.

But what happens when one of the children assumes for a long time, or for life, the responsibilities that correspond to the parents within the family group?

It happens that this child becomes a "parental child", that is, the one that assumes the responsibilities that correspond to the parents, taking charge of the care of these and their siblings, assuming the tasks of the home and serving as emotional support and even economic of the family group.

The parental child usually emerges unconsciously, due to the lack of a parent for reasons of divorce, death or simply physical or emotional absence of any of them. It is there that he "takes the place" of a parental child within to the family.

In any of the cases, the parental child assumes responsibilities that do not correspond to him, which leads many to lose their childhood, adolescence or adulthood taking care of their parents and siblings.

In many cases, the parental children feel emotionally affected, because deep down they know that they carry a heavy burden on their shoulders, and that they live an existentially unjust situation.

Often the parental children face difficulties when it comes to finding a partner, especially the daughters, who usually grow older attending their parents and siblings, which often causes them impotence, anxiety, problems of self-esteem and even resentment towards their parents.

The problem of the parental child is more common than people think, and it is a drama that many live in silence, but that prevents them from living their own development process, according to their age and to explore their own needs.

We are not saying that children do not have responsibilities at home or that they do not care about their relatives, but that as parents we should avoid forming parental children, those who act as parents of their siblings, and even, of the parents themselves, and to return the child to his role of "son", realizing that each one is responsible for their life and that children have the right to live their own.