🔍

I am 14 years old and my parents are getting divorced. My mother wants me to stay with her and she keeps reminding me about the power of a mother's Du'a so that I would not hurt her feelings. How should I choose which parent to stay with?

ParentsMotherDivorce
I am 14 years old and my parents are getting divorced. My mother wants me to stay with her and she keeps reminding me about the power of a mother's Du'a so that I would not hurt her feelings. How should I choose which parent to stay with?
Rebecca Masterton, Dr Rebecca Masterton graduated with a BA in Japanese Language and Literature; an MA in Comparative East Asian and African Literature and a PhD in Islamic literature of West Africa. She has been... Answered 1 year ago

I am sorry that you are having to go through this at your age. Firstly, you should not have to choose to stay with any parent. Being pressured to stay with one parent or another today constitutes as emotional abuse. If you have a good relationship with your father, then you are not under any obligation to stay with your mother. The fact that she is using religion to threaten you and coerce you into staying with her is disturbing, and implies possibly a history of emotional manipulation. There are now many helpful videos on youtube on how to handle emotional manipulation by parents, such as 'The Cra**y Childhood Fairy' and Jerry Wise. Emotional manipulation can damage a child for life, so you need to learn to make sense of what is happening to you and how you can handle it effectively in a way that maintains your self-protection and healthy mental and emotional growth.