Tag: roles of adult children

It’s All Mom’s Fault, or Is It?

We have focused many posts on the adult children of emotionally barren families.  As we go forward there will be posts on resilience and recovery for them.  But before we begin that, it’s important to complete the information on family structure. As mentioned originally, this work began with work on families of alcoholics. Studies showed …

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The Mascot: Using Humor to Cover Pain

The last of the four roles is the Mascot.  As mentioned, this learned behavior uses humor and fun to offset the stress of the family situation.  It looks like fun but all is not happiness and roses, for the humor is used to cover a dark side. The mascot lives in buried fear.  The child …

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The Lost Child: Finding The Way Back from Emptiness

A family where the parents are emotionally absent (whatever the reasons) leaves the children to fend for themselves emotionally.  In learning to cope in a difficult situation with a child’s maturity and knowledge, the siblings often adopt one of four roles to cope with the emotional emptiness of the home. The Lost Child believes that …

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