196. Collateral Damage
The Reconnection Club Podcast
When adult children become estranged from their parents, the ripple effects can often spread to other family members—siblings, grandparents, and even close friends. These "innocent bystanders" can become collateral damage in the fallout of a family rift. In this clarifying episode, host Tina Gilbertson explores four common reasons why estranged adult children might distance themselves from others in the family, and even beyond. Understanding these motivations can offer a clearer picture of the situation and may help ease parents’ fears about the extent of the rift. You’ll learn that...
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Important announcement regarding episode expiration
The Reconnection Club Podcast
TRANSCRIPT: These are uncertain times for those of us who create and freely share content via the Internet. I mentioned on the podcast earlier this year that I needed some time to assess the impact of all the changes happening in the world of digital information, including the widespread, unregulated use of AI. At that time, I removed the show from a couple of the larger platforms, and stopped releasing new episodes to those platforms. Unfortunately, many smaller platforms were also affected. And that’s made it a lot harder for the show to be found by new listeners, which is a dilemma I’m...
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Important Announcement Regarding Access to This Podcast
The Reconnection Club Podcast
There are many more episodes to come! To find ALL episodes of the Reconnection Club Podcast, go to .
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99. Road Map to Reconnection, Part 3
The Reconnection Club Podcast
Episodes 97, 98 and 99 form a 3-part series outlining an overall stepwise approach to reconnecting with your estranged adult child.
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97. Road Map to Reconnection, Part 1
The Reconnection Club Podcast
Episodes 97, 98 and 99 form a 3-part series outlining an overall stepwise approach to reconnecting with your estranged adult child.
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95. The Deep Pain of the Rejected Parent
The Reconnection Club Podcast
Tina talks about three separate types of parental pain, which she suggests exist at deeper and deeper levels in the parent.
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93. You're Both Adults, But Not Peers
The Reconnection Club Podcast
The parent-child relationship is not like any other. In so many ways, your role has always been a more demanding one than your child’s.
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91. How to Let Them Know You've Changed
The Reconnection Club Podcast
Once you start learning, growing and healing through estrangement from an adult child, you might feel like sharing new insights with your child. But don't be in a hurry. Tina offers 2 reasons to wait a while.
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Announcement: Summer Hiatus 2021
The Reconnection Club Podcast
Weekly episodes continue through May 31st, but after that, the next new episode will come out the first Monday in September.
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89. Humility vs. Humiliation
The Reconnection Club Podcast
It’s not uncommon for parents rejected by adult children to feel humiliated by the experience of estrangement.
info_outlineYou’d be surprised how many estranged adult children come from close families.
It’s a myth that parents must have been toxic and abusive for adult children to seek estrangement. Sometimes the very closeness that characterizes a family is what underlies the adult child’s need for distance.
But how can that be? Aren’t close families good for children?
Yes, close families are wonderful environments for children to grow up in. But not every family is close in the right way for children to thrive.
In this episode, Tina distinguishes between closeness and enmeshment.
While closeness is healthy and feels good for everyone involved, enmeshment pumps the brakes on individuality and autonomy, especially in children.
The closeness that parents enjoy in enmeshed families may be experienced by children as control or benign oppression.
As always, Tina offers hope for parents to turn things around.