In my counselling practice, I often meet women who confide their pain to me — stories of marital discord, loneliness, and emotional isolation. Again and again, I notice a familiar pattern: when the partner is absent, either emotionally or physically, the mother turns to her daughter. Slowly, the daughter becomes her confidant, her comforter, sometimes even her mediator. I cannot deny that I have lived this truth in my own home. I am a mother of two daughters, and there were times when they quietly slipped into that role between me and my husband. Whenever there was tension, he would sometimes ask them to step in, to mediate. And while I tried to avoid placing that weight on their shoulders, I could not always protect them from it. As a mother, I saw their maturity and wisdom; as a counsellor, I saw the danger. They were never meant to be our therapists. Psychologists have a name for this: parentification . It happens when children take on responsibilities that belong to adults. Sometim...
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