When Adult Children Cut Off Their Parents
“There’s a rising trend in our culture that very few people want to talk about: adult children cutting off their parents.
I’m not talking about abuse situations or dangerous relationships. I’m talking about loving, flawed parents who raised their children, gave sacrificially, and are now being completely shut out with no warning, no conversation, and no willingness to reconcile.
According to research, the vast majority of estrangements between parents and adult children are initiated by the child, not the parent. Often, the parent doesn’t even fully know why. One day, the phone calls stop. The texts go unanswered. The holidays are silent. And when you finally hear something, it’s often a list of offenses you didn’t even know existed.
Why is this happening?
Because our culture now teaches that anyone who doesn’t “support how you feel” is toxic. Therapy-speak has replaced honor. TikTok influencers and pop psychology encourage cutting people off as an act of self-love. Many adult children are now rewriting their childhoods, relabeling boundaries as trauma, and tossing aside their parents like disposable relationships.
This is rebellion. It’s spiritual deception. It’s pride disguised as empowerment.
Scripture warned us this would happen: “In the last days, people will be lovers of themselves… disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection.” (2 Timothy 3)
If you’re a parent going through this, you’re not alone. You’re not crazy. And you’re not a failure. The enemy is after families, and this is one of his most effective tools right now - deception and division.
These parents still have something to give. Love, advice, presence. Not perfection but something real. And now it just sits there, wasted. Not because they failed but because their children decided they were no longer worth the effort. That is the heartbreak no one talks about.
But God sees. He knows the truth. Keep praying. Stay grounded. Tell your story. Refuse bitterness. And don’t stop believing that the prodigals can still come home.”