u/UglyPrimadonna

Hi,
Im currently reading the first Harry Potter to our 6yo son as we try to pivot away from picture books.

He’s loving it. We’re reading at least 30+ minutes every evening, sometimes more during the day. We’ll watch the first movie after we’re finished.

I’m currently pondering what to read him next… the Potter series will progressively get more intense with each volume. I was wondering what other book or series might be cool for a child his age that’s already gotten into something like Harry Potter. Genre could be anything…maybe SciFi or Fantasy.

Any recommendations?

Thanks and Best ✌️

When I was around 17 or 18, my mother asked me if I felt she had been a good mother to me. I said “yes.” And I genuinely believed it back then… I did, for the longest time.

That belief held until three years ago, when I turned 37 and finally realized her constant manipulation.

Since going no contact after a huge fight, where she openly invalidated my wife and me, gaslit us, and tried to brainwash our then 4-year-old son, I’ve had so many ups and downs. Constant rumination, self-pity, guilt, doubt, and fear. It didn’t help that she basically riled her whole side of the family against me.

She raised me with constant abandonment threats to make me strive for nothing

She ruined my sense of self with subtle but constant invalidation

She messed up my attachment style by calling all my relationships into question

She basically ruined my marriage (we’re still holding together, though currently for our son’s sake, and for not letting her win)

...I feel so much more free without her influence, yet I am still so utterly broken.

If she were to ask me again today, I’d love to tell her to fuck off. Too bad she’d likely never ask again...and I wouldn’t want to answer anyway, since I’m no contact.