90 Toxic Parents Quotes To Deal With Narcissist Behavior

Looking for sayings about toxic parenting? We have rounded up the best collection of toxic family quotes, sayings, captions, and status, (with images, pictures, and memes) that you might relate to if you have bad relationships with your parents.

Toxic parent” is an umbrella term for parents who display some or all of the following characteristics: Self-centered behaviors. Your parent may be emotionally unavailable, narcissistic, or perhaps uncaring when it comes to things that you need.

Toxic family members create an unhealthy family situation based on betrayal, rejection, cheating, drama, and selfishness. A toxic father or mother can have a very bad influence on the childhood of their kids.

Also See: Dysfunctional Family Quotes

When you have unsupportive parents, you are hurt deep down in your heart and feel very disappointed. But when your blood relations get really poisonous and toxic then you should let go and walk away for your peace of mind.

These toxic family sayings are deep, sad, emotional, sarcastic, and positive too, which will let you know, that you are not alone going through the struggle. And that the best thing to do after trying your best is to cut ties and walk away from the negativity and toxicity.

We have divided the post in the following sections;

  • Toxic Parents Quotes
  • Toxic Parenting Quotes
  • Toxic Co-Parents Quotes
 If you could relate to these toxic parenting sayings then also check out toxic family quotes and toxic relationship quotes to heal and let go of your deep pain.

Toxic Parents Quotes

  1. “Don’t let their past abuse define you for the rest of your life.”

  2. “Bad parents see no wrong in the way they treat their children.” – Unknown                                                                                                                                                             
    toxic parenting quotes
    toxic parenting quotes

  3. “Love and respect them but don’t get caught up in their drama.”

  4. “Control, manipulation and possessiveness is the name of their game.”

  5. “Money has always been the primary language of power.”- Susan Forward

  6. “It’s amazing how people can change behind closed doors.”- Susan Forward

  7. “Sometimes, using no contact is the best way to be safe from abusive parents.”

  8. “You don’t have to carry on the legacy of their abuse and the hurt it caused you.”                                                                                                                                                                       
    toxic parents quotes
    toxic parents quotes

  9. “Being in a family where you were neglected sucks but that shouldn’t define you.”

  10. “An unpredictable parent is a fearsome god in the eyes of a child.”- Susan Forward

  11. “Unstable and dysfunctional homes are offshoots of narcissist parents ruling them.” – Unknown                                                                                                                                 
    toxic parent quotes
    toxic parent quotes

  12. “It has been my observation that parents kill more dreams than anybody.” – Spike Lee

  13. “A child’s shoulders were not built to bear the weight of their parent’s choices.”- Toby Mac

  14. “Never has a book been as sorely misused as the Bible to justify beatings.”- Susan Forward

  15. “Controlling parents will always assume their children are their property they can possess.” – Unknown                                                                                                                             
    quotes about toxic parents
    quotes about toxic parents

  16. “They will make you second guess yourself by stripping away your self-worth and self-esteem.”

  17. “You can’t change the toxic behaviour of your toxic parents but you can decide how you respond.” – Unknown                                                                                               
    toxic mother quotes
    toxic mother quotes

  18. “You can always leave your childhood trauma your abusive mom or dad behind. Never be a victim.” – Unknown                                                                                                                         
    toxic bad mom quotes
    toxic bad mom quotes

  19. “Toxic parents are the root cause of all dysfunctional families because the fish rots first at its head.”

  20. “Recognizing a problem and seeking help is a sign not only of health but of courage.”- Susan Forward

  21. “Manipulation and control are favourite weapons abusive dads often use on their children for control.” – Unknown                                                                                       
    Toxic father Quotes
    Toxic father Quotes

  22. “It’s no use to argue with parents who always think they are right all the time and you are always wrong.”

  23. “Narcissist parents don’t care about their children’s feelings at all. Only their feelings matter.”- Kim Saeed

  24. “Sometimes, narcissistic parents are also better loved from a distance to avoid further emotional damage.”

  25. “Family is supposed to be our safe haven. Very often, it’s the place we find the deepest heartache.” – Lyanla Vansant                                                                                                 
    toxic parents quotes images
    toxic parents quotes images

  26. “They should love you, just as you are. Parents should love their kids, right? “You’d think so”.c- N.R. Walker

  27. “In troubled families, abuse and neglect are permitted. It’s talking about them that is forbidden.”- Marcia Sirota

  28. It’s not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons. – Jonathan Schiller

  29. No matter what you’ve suffered, the abuse was not your fault. Not as an innocent child, teenager, nor as an adult. – Dana Arcuri

  30. “Many children of toxic parents find it exceptionally difficult to identify who they are once they grow up.”- JR Thorpe

  31. “Trust is like the runt of our emotional litter; under harsh conditions, it’s usually the first to die.”- Susan Forward

  32. “Narcissist parents do not know their children; they aren’t interested in what they have to say unless it affects them.”- Tina Fuller

  33. “Nobody plays the parental alienation card quicker than the abusive parent who’s lost control over the survivor’s mind.”- E.S

  34. “When you grieve toxic, abusive parents, you don’t just grieve the abuse, you grieve everything you didn’t have.”- Lily Hope Lucario

  35. “I have a gaping painful hole in my soul where good, loving parents and a normal, safe childhood should have been.”- Lily Hope Lucario

  36. “All of us develop our expectations about how people will treat us based on our relationships with our parents.”- Susan Forward

  37. “A narcissistic parent will provoke an independent child to anger in order to feel superior and prove the child’s flaws.”- Shannon Thomas

  38. “It is both tragic and freeing to accept that your mother is not capable of being the mother you always needed her to be.” – Stephi Wagner

Toxic Parenting Quotes

Toxic parenting, occurs when parents mistreat their children and fail to give them the love, care, and kindess required towards them.

Also See: Sad Family Quotes

This can lead to humiliation, anger issues, traumatic events, and abusive behaviour towards children. This affects the mental and emotional health of a child and can also lead to depression and self-isolation.

  1. “A child should never feel as if they need to earn a mother’s love.” – Sherrie Campbell

  2. “Some people play victims of crimes they committed.” – Unknown

  3. “Toxic parents care more about how you make them look than how you actually feel.” – Unknown

  4. “You’ve been lied to so many times that you know who not to trust. That’s not trust issues; that’s lessons learned.” – Unknown

  5. “Sometimes you need to give up on people, not because you don’t care, but because they don’t.” – Unknown

  6. “Whether it’s a parent, sibling, friend, or family member, do not allow a destructive person to drag you down a hole for the rest of your life.”

  7. “Abusive parents often blame their children for their abusive and immature behavior as a way of covering their tracks so that they don’t look bad.”- Unknown

  8. “Without communication, there is no relationship. Without respect, there is no love. Without trust, there is no reason to continue.” – Unknown

  9. “Your parents may be toxic but you need to love and respect them as your biological parents who had just the right gene combination to have you.”

  10. “No child should ever have to bear the burden of parenting their own parents. To toxic parents, you existed to serve them all the time.”- Kim Saeed

  11. “Narcissist parents want total control. Take back your control. If possible, don’t accept any money, favor, items or anything from them.”- Tina Fuller

  12. “Unhealthy families discourage individual expression. Everyone must conform to the thoughts and actions of the toxic parents. ”- Dr. Susan Forward

  13. “The hateful and stinging words of a narcissistic parent can linger in the mind of an adult child long after the adult has left home.”- Shannon Thomas

  14. “Most adult children of toxic parents grow up feeling tremendous confusion about what love means and how it’s supposed to feel. ”- Dr. Susan Forward

  15. “Children shouldn’t have to sacrifice so that you can have the life you want. You make sacrifices so your children can have the life that they deserve.”

  16. “The toxic parent sees the child as a threat to their own ego and having the child overshadow the parent is not an option in their mind.”- Shannon Thomas

  17. “The toxicity that comes from them is often the result of their own unmet needs, insecurities they have which they project on their children to find solace.”

  18. “A narcissist parent is easily frustrated by a healthy independent child that they can’t control through parental emotional manipulation.”- Shannon Thomas

  19. “Your toxic parent may charm the pants off perfect strangers, your friends and more distant relatives. All of which just appears to make you out the bad guy.”

  20. “Instead of promoting healthy development, they unconsciously undermine it, often with the belief that they are acting in their child’s best interest.”- Dr. Susan Forward

  21. “We can only speculate why, but physically abusive parents seem to share certain characteristics. First, they have an appalling lack of impulse control.”- Dr. Susan Forward

  22. “Dysfunctional parents let their children know how burdened they have been by their children and how many sacrifices they had to make in order to raise them.”- Dr Marita Sirota

  23. “In a normal family situation, parents concern about how their children are doing, what they’re feeling. Narcissistic parents don’t care about their children feelings at all. Only their feelings matter.”

  24. “Positive humor is one of our most valuable tools for strengthening family bonds. But humor that belittles can be extremely damaging within the family. Children take sarcasm and humorous exaggeration at face value.”- Dr. Susan Forward

  25. “My father never did any of the things that my friends’ fathers did with them. We never tossed a football around or even watched games together. He would always say, ‘I don’t have time—maybe later,; but he always had time to sit around and get drunk.”- Dr. Susan Forward

  26. “They are not sorry for harming you. So, don’t feel guilty for cutting them off. You have the right to protect yourself from people who are toxic to you – even if they are family members. They already had their chance and showed their true colors, over and over.” – John Mark Green

  27. “Children of selfish and demanding parents are not guilty of anything. They have been abused and manipulated into believing that their sole purpose is to make their parent happy. In fact this is a destructive can job, and the guilt rests with the self-absorbed or narcissistic parent.”- Glynis Sherwood

  28. “No matter how tempting, do not respond to emotional talk, insults and attacks made by the high conflict parent. Reply only to the facts about the children. By doing so you are putting boundaries in place that will lessen misunderstandings, circular conversations that lead no where and frustration on your part…keep your power and peace!”

  29. “People can forgive toxic parents, but they should do it at the conclusion – not at the beginning – of their emotional housecleaning. People need to get angry about what happened to them. They need to grieve over the fact that they never had the parental love they yearned for. They need to stop diminishing or discounting the damage that was done to them.”

  30. “Perfectionist parents seem to operate under the illusion that if they can just get their children to be perfect, they will be a perfect family. They put the burden of stability on the child to avoid facing the fact that they, as parents, cannot provide it. The child fails and becomes the scapegoat for family problems. Once again, the child is saddled with the blame.”- Dr. Susan Forward

  31. “Many toxic parents compare one sibling unfavorably with another to make the target child feel that he’s not doing enough to gain parental affection. This motivates the child to do whatever the parents want in order to regain their favor. This divide-and-conquer technique is often unleashed against children who become a little too independent, threatening the balance of the family system.”- Dr. Susan Forward

Toxic Co-Parenting Quotes

When a mother, father or a step-parent puts their needs and interest before their child then the behaviour pattern is toxic. These traits of manipulative and self-centered attitude of the parents can make the feel child unloved or left-out.

Related: Cutting People Off Quotes

Being ignored is a very sad feeling and can have deep-rooted mental effects on children. These depression toxic parents quotes and letting go of toxic parents quotes will help you to deal with toxic parents.

  1. “A family portrait is only complete with love to fill its frame.”

  2. “The best security blanket a child can have is parents who respect each other.” – Jane Blaustone

  3. “The best, most mature co-parents will tell their therapist – and not their child – how much the other parent sucks.”

  4. “Toxic parenting leaves scars. Every child deserves good parenting. It is a parental responsibility, not a privilege.” – TCMD

  5. “At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to child’s success is the positive involvement of the parents.” – Jane D. Hull

  6. “Anyone can have a child and call themselves “a parent”. A real parent is someone who puts that child above their own selfish needs and wants.”

  7. “Narcissists don’t co-parent. They counter-parent. they don’t care about the collateral emotional damage done to the children, as long as it hurts you.”

  8. “This is probably one of the most difficult challenges any parent could face – learning to love the other parent enough to make the children first.” – Iyanla Vanzant

  9. “Co-parenting is not a competition. It’s a collaboration of two homes working together with the best interest of the child at heart. Work for your kids not against them.”

  10. “Keep in mind, there was probably a time when you loved your ex. And even if you can’t stand the sight of them now, your child never fell out of love. And they never will.”

  11. “Children deserve both parents. They deserve to know that their parents respect each other, if nothing else. So that really helps me set the standard of how I try and behave.”

  12. “Coparenting with an ex can be tough, but if you stay calm and keep your child’s needs in focus, your actions will always be sound, no matter how your coparent might behave.”

  13. “Children are not possessions. You don’t “allow” the father/mother extra time. When you say things like that you imply that you think of your children as things, not humans.”

  14. “If you hold onto hurt and anger with a narcissist, the children will have no normal parent. The narcissistic parent will use them as puppets, lovebomb, and abandon them. You are their only hope.”

  15. “One tip that has always helped me is to keep it on a business level, rather than a personal level. You are now in the ‘business’ of raising these children with a person that no longer resides in your home.”

  16. “If your child feels loved, they feel safe. If your child feels loved, they can open up to you. If your child feels loved, they will be courageous in life because they know they have a cushion to fall back on. If there’s one big gift we can give or children is to know they are truly loved, no matter what.”

  17. “The more co-parents communicate with one another about the children, the less likely for small issues to grow into major problems. Select days/times for phone, email or in-person visits. Discuss in advance visitation transfer agreements. List who’s responsible for what on each day, week, or month.”

  18. “Narcissistic Parent: Doesn’t like it when their children become older and embrace individuality which is a normal development. They feel threatened because you’re escaping their iron clad grip of control and being an extension of them. Switching from being the golden child to the black sheep initially hurts but this is truly your road to freedom.”

  19. “A successful co-parenting relationship can only work between two people who are totally present and dedicated to their child/children despite outward distractions, and the personal conflicts between them. You are either in it together for the sake of your child/children, or you are not in it at all and choose to place yourself above all else.”

  20. “It is critical to maintain boundaries between adult problems and children. Please protect your children’s innocence and allow them to remain children. They must not be burdened by adult problems. Kids don’t have the coping skills or the intellectual ability to understand money worries, adult relationship issues or their parent’s unhappiness.”

Read More family quotes;

Co-parenting Quotes

Hurtful Quotes

Selfish People Quotes

Bad Relationship Quotes

Relationship Arugument Quotes

Parent and Child Relationship Quotes

Unsupportive Family Quotes

How did you find these quotes about toxic family and relationships? If you have any other inspirational quotes to add to the list, let us know in the comment section below. Also see how to deal with toxic family members here.

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