I was actually brought up by my grandmother rather than my parents, but now my mum and dad have decided I should be paying them maintenance.
Me and my family live in different cities, and honestly, I haven’t seen them for more than 20 years now. Theyre both artists and sing in a choir, so their whole life has been spent on the road really. When I turned five, I ended up living with my nan. She hoped things might be easier with another child in the house, so we had to move in with some of her relatives.
At first, my mum and dad would visit once or twice a year, sometimes three times if we were lucky, but then their visits became less and less frequent. Eventually, I just stopped thinking about them at all. After a while, there was no contact whatsoever. While I was a dental student, I even got married in my third year.
Now, me and my husband actually run our own dental practice and do quite well for ourselves. About a year ago, my parents popped up out of the blue. They started ringing the clinic because they didnt even have my mobile number. Most of our conversations were just them moaning about their lot in life.
Id just listen while they vented, and remind them that it was their decision to leave their daughter behind to be brought up by her grandmother. Every now and then, they would send Nan a few quid, but honestly, most of the time she and I just got by on her pension. She told me this more than once, and I understood; we had to be really careful with money, saving up for everything.
At school, I made sure to work hard, and to help us get by and have something to wear, I worked night shifts as an assistant in the hospital. Now, I feel like Ive got my own life, and my parents have theirsweve all just gone our separate ways.
When my mum and dad realised I had no plans to support them, they started threatening to demand maintenance payments from me. That really did it for meIve ended up cutting ties altogether. If before I sometimes doubted my choice and thought about sending them some money, now I just want nothing to do with either of them. What do you reckon, have I done the right thing? Or should I be helping them out, after everything?
