Because all parents are imperfect, you were certain to make a mistake at some point. You might have been too harsh, too permissive, too preoccupied, and so forth. And when you slipped up, your toxic ex encouraged your child to pounce on this error as if it were “The Reason” the relationship must end, even though your child started slipping away from you well before that. It’s almost as if your child was waiting for something to happen so that she could take down from the shelf a preplanned response of full-scale rejection.
