30. Stop Explaining Yourself – to your High-Conflict Coparent, as an ASD Mom, or as the Parent of a PDA child: Narcissistic Abuse and PTSD R

About this episode

Faustina discusses the importance of limiting explanations to high-conflict coparents and others who may misunderstand you, focusing on mental health and effective communication.

We've been trained to explain ourselves. Either through a toxic abusive relationship, through a lifetime of living with autism and being misunderstood, or by walking the journey of raising a child with autism and/or PDA. It's taking energy away from what matters: your mental health, and your kids. When people are committed to misunderstanding you, consciously or not, share what you have to share and keep it moving. In this episode Faustina reflects on her journey with all of the above and explains why sharing less, is actually safer. In the context of coparenting with a narcissist, or someone who exhibits dysfunctional traits of behavior, the way you communicate, and how much content you produce as you attempt to explain your decisions, can be used against you in family court. Judges won't be able to see who the safe, child-focused parent is if you ramble and come from an emotional place. Detach, share what you legally have to share, and be on your merry way. In the context of raising a PDA child, you'll be making decisions that most parents won't understand. And unless they are willing to educate themselves and research PDA, there is approximately zero point in explaining why…

People in this episode

Host: Faustina

Topics covered

• high-conflict coparenting
• narcissistic abuse
• autism
• PDA
• mental health
• communication

Keywords

• high-conflict coparenting
• narcissistic abuse
• autism
• PDA
• mental health
• communication
• family court
• energy preservation

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