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Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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"AITAH for walking out of a family hangout when my sister tried to make me the ‘peacemaker’ again?"
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The “family referee” is a great way to phrase this man's emotional job. He's tasked with being his parents' couples therapist, and as weird as that is, it's more so unfitting and damaging to him. When a child assumes the role their parents should be in, that means there's a foundational dysfunction in the family hierarchy. The mother and father no longer have the final say, and they fall into the role of reprimandee rather than the one who reprimands.
How is this possible? Well, when two emotionally immature adults decide that family dinner is the perfect time to get angry at each other and make their adult children uncomfortable, things sort of fall into place, as they do.
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Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.
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Family hangout goes south when older sister tries to make her brother the ‘peacemaker’ for their parents: ‘"I'm coming to eat and talk, not play mediator"’
Being the designated familial peacemaker is a gargantuan responsibility, especially when your argumentative parents never know when enough is enough.
The youngest of the family is put into this role by default, likely because they're the ones who have somehow developed the closest thing to emotional regulation. There could be a myriad of reasons for why that is, but we can probably attribute their emotional intelligence to their parents "finally getting it right," as they say.
When a family decides to plague the youngest child with the near-impossible task of having their parents make nice-nice, the child develops an emotional deficit of sorts. They can no longer think in terms of their own happiness and well-being, and instead, only look out for their family's best interest. It's emotionally taxing and, in turn, the youngest child's "concern" becomes contempt. Many families wonder why the youngest link strays from the pack… this just might be the reason for it.
The child becomes the parent, and the parents become the child. Surely, nothing will go awry. Of course, I'm being sarcastic. Things always go awry on Fail Blog. Hence, the "fail" part of our brand. Scroll below to read about a 27-year-old son who finally puts his foot down after being the designated "peacemaker" for his family for years.
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