Do you believe that it is psychologically damaging to an adult to hear their parents talk about how they were terrible as a child?

I believe that it is because your parents are the people that are supposed to make you feel safe, loved, and accepted no matter what. No one wants to be told that they were a terrible child and made to feel like they were a huge burden on their parents.

I want to add some context to my post: these parents tell stories of “terrible things” their child did but they were actually age appropriate behaviors. The parents complain that they didn’t get the “sweet” child they wanted. They also complain that the kid ruined everything on outings as a toddler because the toddler didn’t reach their inappropriate expectations.

This child suffered emotional, mental, physical, and sexual abuse as a child but the parents won’t acknowledge those things happened and instead place the blame on the kid. They are constantly reminding their kid (who is now an adult) of all of these things. They aren’t sharing these things as a joke or as a lighthearted memory. They are simply trash talking their child.