How Mother & Father Narcissists Differ — & What You Can Do

Spot the differences — and make a decision on what to do moving forward.

Everyone is talking about narcissism these days — it’s all over the headlines, in all the podcast interviews, and all over social media. Going viral, as we’d say.

I hear a lot of talk about narcissists in relationships, but not as much about parents — and haven’t heard anything about how fathers and mothers differ. So, with that — I decided to do a little research, and reflect on my experience and thought it would be helpful to share.

I came to the quick conclusion that mothers and fathers definitely differ (in my opinion, of course) on how their narcissism presents in parenting. I am the daughter of what would be considered a narcissistic mother — so I know firsthand what this dynamic is like. I also witnessed how her treatment of my brother differed from mine, which has been unanimously confirmed by other people in similar situations.

Here’s a little breakdown of the different dynamics I’ve witnessed between parents…

FATHERS.

My dad definitely had some of the traits, however, I wouldn’t go as far as labeling him a full-blown narcissist. My experience with narcissistic fathers is more through witnessing friends and partners who have struggled with it or are they are the narcissistic dad (awkward), and…