How to Protect a child From a Narcissistic Father? As a parent, you want to do everything in your power to protect your children. When they scrape a knee, you feel their pain.
When they come home from school with a bad report card, you feel their humiliation. If your child’s father is a narcissist, and they’re going through the cycle of abuse, you feel it as if it’s happening to you (more than likely, it has happened to you).
Protecting your child from their father is no easy task; you don’t want them to be traumatized by his abuse, but you also can’t sever the parent-child bond without doing lasting damage.
If your child is going to see their father and have a relationship with him, the best thing to do is build up your child’s resilience so they can deal with some of his more unsavory behaviors.
11 Ways to Protecting your Child from their Narcissistic Father
There are a number of steps you can take to protect your child from their narcissistic father – some will involve just you and your relationship with the father.
In contrast, others are focused on changing the child’s behavior or helping them to understand their fathers disorder better.
Some of this advice will be more helpful for parents that are still living with a narcissistic father, while others are relevant to those who are divorced but still need to co-parent with a narcissist.
The most important step is the one you’ve already completed though, identifying the father’s narcissistic behavior and considering the best options for protecting your child from them.
The steps below are a great start, but don’t think of them as a checklist to complete.
They’re a toolbox full of helpful choices that can be tailored to your situation and your child’s maturity level.
Reading Suggestion: Do You Have a Narcissist in the Family?
#1 Let Go of the Blame
Once you realize you’ve been parenting alongside a narcissist, you’re likely to blame yourself for the damage done to your child. Not only are these thoughts and feelings unproductive, but they’re also patently untrue.
Narcissists are incredibly cunning and won’t reveal their true nature until it’s too late.
This could be after getting married, buying a house, or having children with you.
What’s important is that he’s sucked you in and made it very difficult to escape. Not seeing this side of him from the beginning is not a character flaw.
Spending all your time thinking about what could have been, what it would be like for your child to not have a narcissistic father, is time better spent focusing on legal solutions, resiliency for you and your child, and what can be done to limit interactions with the father.
#2 Stop Fights Before They Start
For many, this will sound like submission to the narcissist, but it becomes a viable solution if you consider how ineffective fighting with a narcissist is.
If conflict arises between you and the narcissistic father, do not belittle them, ignore them, or otherwise defy them.
Narcissists crave attention and always want to appear right about whatever they’re fighting about.
Try to find a way to steer the conversation towards agreeing with them (even if only on a trivial point in the fight).
Let them know their viewpoint is valued. No need to surrender to them though, just make them feel like they’re winning the argument, even when you’re getting the concessions you were looking for.
#3 Stay Calm
This is a big ask because every interaction with the narcissistic father is designed to elicit an emotional response that’ll reflect poorly on you.
He wants you to cry, scream, and resort to name-calling, which will be used against you when he is trying to exert more parental control or when he’s fighting for child custody during a divorce.
You can control outbursts better by understanding how narcissists operate. Don’t take his words personally; he’s saying what he thinks will cause a reaction. By not reacting, you can put him off balance.
Then, try to map out the conversation based on your past experiences with the father?
How does he usually respond to criticism and what might he say to hijack the conversation? Having thought through the conversation, you’re less likely to get surprised and fall into his trap.
It might sound cliche, but take a deep breath before responding to him.
Those breaths will slow the argument down, help you stay rational, and prevent you from being provoked.
#4 Let the Kids be Angry
Living with a narcissist is a draining experience; no one knows that better than you. Your kids can feel the same way after being subjected to a bout of narcissistic rage and bottling up their feelings can lead to sudden emotional outbursts.
Don’t take your child’s anger too personally, though. They’re just expressing their pain.
Sometimes they might direct that anger in your direction, wondering why you haven’t removed them from this difficult situation. Explaining the complexity of your position can be challenging, but do your best and don’t get upset if the child lashes out.
#5 Minimize Contact with the Narcissistic Father
Every interaction with a narcissist is an opportunity for them to insult, gaslight, and turn the situation against you.
There are very few times where an interaction with them will be productive. Thus if you’re co-parenting with a narcissist, your best bet is to limit the amount of time you have to spend with them.
For phone calls, let your kids know that they can call you whenever they want; having them initiate the interaction removes the narcissist from the equation.
In face-to-face meetings, like handing the kids off for the weekend, limit conversations to things involving the kids.
Letting their narcissistic father know more about your personal life is bound to have negative consequences.
#6 Don’t Let Your Child Blame Themselves
Just as you are apt to blame yourself for your partner’s bad behavior, so is your child.
Most children desperately want to please their parents, a trait that narcissists know all too well and exploit to the fullest extent.
Narcissistic fathers want their children to look up to them, and idolize them even.
Children showing the proper amount of respect and admiration are made to be the golden child, the one who can do no wrong in their father’s eyes.
This status has nothing to do with the child’s personal attributes and everything to do with how they make the narcissist feel.
When the child fails in school/sports/career, the father withdraws his support as their supposed failures reflect poorly on him.
A child that stops showing the proper deference for their narcissistic father will also have their status downgraded until they come crawling back to him.
As the other parent, your job is to show unconditional love to the child, letting them know that their worth isn’t dependent on how their father is feeling that day.
For younger kids, explaining this could be as simple as saying “Daddy is having a bad day, and it’s not because of anything you’ve done”.
For older kids, you can engage in deeper conversations, letting them know that his behavior is not normal and is caused by his own emotional issues.
#7 Let Them Know They’re Not Alone
One of the most potent ways for narcissists to control their victims is through isolation.
They assert control of a situation and manipulate everyone into believing their version of reality through gaslighting.
They’ll shower praise on their kids, building them up only to tear them down later, something that gives them all the power in the relationship.
Your kids should be aware that their narcissistic father treats many people poorly, which helps them to understand that they’ve done nothing wrong to deserve it.
You can share your negative experiences, but keep focusing on what you did to leave that situation intact.
Tell your children about your healthy coping mechanisms and how they might benefit them.
#8 Be Open With Them
This can be tricky and the amount of information you share about the father needs to consider your child’s age and maturity level.
If you have a younger child and mention that their father is a narcissist, there’s a good chance they’ll go around repeating the newly-learned word, sometimes in the presence of their father.
Things are bound to go poorly when the father learns that you’ve outed them as a narcissist to the child.
Instead, think of how the child perceives their father’s behavior. They’re worried about disappointing him or making him angry.
They must be told that their father’s behavior is not their fault and that he is overly sensitive and defensive with everyone.
With that context, the child can learn how to avoid their father’s narcissistic rage while maturing into an emotionally stable and empathetic adult.
#9 Don’t Vilify the Father
After that last bit of advice, this might seem contradictory, but there’s a difference between telling the truth about someone’s behavior and making them into monsters. Remember, the goal is to protect your child, not vent your feelings.
Unfortunately, unless you’re willing to go through a divorce seeking full custody, the narcissistic father still has parental rights.
Engendering negative feelings towards him isn’t going to help your child. If anything, it’ll cause them to act out in ways that feed his narcissistic tendencies, leading to more manipulative behavior or harsh punishments for your child.
In time, your child can form their own opinion of their father, and they’ll feel much more secure in their opinion if they come to it on their own.
Older children are more likely to have questions that push you to reveal things about their father that you wouldn’t otherwise. Always let the child initiate these conversations.
#10 Model Helpful Behaviors
Narcissists teeter between periods of love bombing and emotional distance, leaving their children incredibly confused.
Most often, they’ll look to the one person who might actually understand how to deal with their father – you.
Your kids will notice how you behave when their father is angry, how you keep the conversation positive to prevent yourself from setting off his emotional triggers.
It’s a tightrope to walk though, as your children might think this is how they should approach every interaction. Again, it is critical to know the child’s maturity level and what they can handle.
Given the unequal relationship between fathers and their children, it’ll be difficult for them to model all of your behaviors.
Setting boundaries doesn’t work so well when the adult can demand a child do something without explanation.
#11 Get Some Outside Help
No one should ever need to navigate a narcissistic relationship by themselves – not you and not your child.
Everyone needs a support network, and it can take a few different forms. If you feel safe with your friends and family, discuss what’s happening and get their point of view on where to go next.
Unfortunately, narcissists weave their way through your social network, poisoning your contacts with smear campaigns and doubt.
Often, you can’t be sure who to trust, because you don’t know who he has manipulated and turned against you.
In that case, it’s better to seek counsel with a professional. Therapy will help you to better understand the father’s mental state and what you can do to protect yourself and your child.
Your child could also benefit from some time with a therapist. If you don’t help them to understand their father’s problematic behaviors now, it’ll be harder to repair later.
The Challenge of Protecting Your Child from their Narcissistic Father
No matter which steps you take, it’ll feel like you’re fighting a losing battle.
The narcissistic father devours your energy until you no longer have the will to fight them. If you can, extricate yourself and your child from this situation.
If you can’t, your best bet is to develop resilience in the two of you, shielding against the pain the father inflicts rather than actively fighting against it.
Remember that none of this is your fault and that you can’t change a narcissist who doesn’t want to change. All you can do is work on yourself and help to build a better future for your child.
I would really like a support group for women living with a narcissist.
I would as well! I am in the middle of divorce from one and it is awful..
It is awful and I hear you and I feel for you. I could write a book after 18 years of abuse. I’m going to be honest. It may not get easier as much as we wish for it so acceptance is the number one thing. Accept that for now it sucks but know it will get better eventually. 2. Household is everything. Your household is your household is your household. I can’t emphasise how important that space is. No matter what he brings to it through your children ignore it and go straight to your values, your beliefs, your system. 3. Use health. Call helplines to talk. Most of the time they are great but there will be times you will get a pro mens rights person. You need to hang up and call again. 4. Get a book. Write every incident in it. The little things build a bigger picture. Even if its a diary to download onto and go back to. 5. Design your world. As in really plan. If your being financially manipulated go camping, find the free things, library readings, picnics etc. 6. The system will let you down. We have this idea that it will do the right thing by those that do. It doesn’t. You might get some wins across the board for yourself and your children…that is a good result. Don’t rely on it to do the right thing by you or your children (it’s not they don’t care, it’s that they don’t live it like you do) 7. Love. It’s there. Find everyone that you can trust and allow yourself to have healthy relationships. 8. Trust yourself. You are the best person to find the best outcomes in a shitty situation. Your navigating a storm. It’s skills building for when the waters are calm you will sail how you want to. 9. Value build. Value build in yourself and your household. There will be things that come into play that try to take the value out of things. It won’t impact if you have value in yourself and your household. 10. Never stop being mum. Supermum is another word for “i have issues but i hide them, here look a my cape”. 11. Connect. Connect with outreach services, community anything. When it gets tough you start to disconnect. Recognise it and practice connecting with the world around you. 12. Save your time with friends for friendship. Talk, waffle, love but save the extreme stuff for experts. 13. Therapy. No one gets away from a narc unscathed but you can shield yourself a little better. 14. Pay it forwards. Use your crappy experience to help others. It makes positive out of the negative experiences. 15. Failing all the above you can always raise your middle finger in your mind…at anyone….they will never know. Power to you.
Love these…thank you. You’ve given me a glimmer of hope in a very dark place.
Omg I’m in the middle of a divorce as well and looking for ways to help my child, it is tougher when children are involved. I don’t care about the material things I have lost, I just want to save my child. May God please help us!
I just spent the last year divorcing my narc. I’d love a group for this too.
I agree! It’s hard to deal with alone and not let your husband know, too.
Me too! Took me until my oldest was about 29 and other was 24 when I realized my ex was a narcissist- I’ve been through hell and the damage has been done to my daughters as well I’m going to al anon but it’s not enough( my ex high functioning drinking is turning into him being low functioning per my adult children- went from IT healthcare exec to a factory job level position ( didn’t believe it but my girls say it seems true) Ivdesoerately need a Ladie’s’ group with similar issues- I can hardly relate to anyone these days and both my daughters mental health is deteriorating ( including both coming out of abudive relationships with men- a repeat of a pattern though it seems they both have done it subconsciously esp because their dad has been a so called “ role model “ & Disneyland dad ( and definitely enabling ) I was just the “ ugh hired help it seemed The girls said “ jump” – he said “ how high?” ( new cars, trips across continents , College etc) With me? , his so called wife ? — it was implied “ what do you want ?” -clothes?, a larger car ? “ — food?!( ok not that) You get the picture- hired help , I got scraps
I don’t know how old this post is but how about we start an online support group? Email me lbaker2497@gmail.com
I have recently divorced a narcissist who has taken everything from me. Now my 15 yr old daughter has blocked me from her life, that is until she needs something. She’s staying with him & when I was there I could intervene in his dealings with her. I’m not there, actually thank GOD, but she is staying with him. I know she’s hurting & it breaks my heart. Been praying almost every minute of every day but God separated me from her cuz she’s just as demeaning to me. I’ve been healing & want her back in my life. Any suggestions very much needed. Thank you
Omg I’m going through the same thing and it’s horrible ! My daughter ran away from his home twice now she’s 15 and she has been manipulated to hate me and say horrible things in court that would destroy our relationship but it’s not her fault and my kids think I’m crazy and that he’s fine but they have no idea it’s him doing all of this and it’s so hard to watch your kids be confused yet full of hate towards the parent who’s endured many years of this abuse as it is just to have it all torn apart from you !!! I’m still in court with him though so I’m still going I’m not giving up because I need to help my kids!! How do you tell them all this without them just blowing you off telling me I’m crazy some more? Ughhh that is what I am struggling with currently!
recommend try onemombattle custody. if have Instagram go find and follow. to get some kind of help you could get. it not easy as I am going through too. mom of 8 kids and finally divorced last year but left him in 2019. hang in there, I have therapy of my own and family therapy without the father. it help benefits for me be able to change the better and learn better too. it not easy being single mom but worthwhile to be able to my self care as well.
I’m going through the same and I worry for my son’s health. he’s 17. have you found a support group?
I am in the same boat. I am so helpless. Have you figured out how to handle this? Any tips much appreciated. It’s heartbreaking..he stole our son, and hired him to punish me for divorcing him. It’s evil actually.
onemombattle custody can help you.
Sadly narcissists are incapable of love or empathy for others, although they can fake it to gain trust. They even destroy their own children through jealousy, revenge on their ex or some perceived slight that showed their true colours. When you realise their intention is continually evil you become the enemy. They favour deaths that look accidental then arrive as chief mourner on a horse at the funeral.
If they can’t physically destroy their children they will introduce them to drugs/crime/suicidal ideation to leave them permanently psychologically damaged and on a path of self destruction.
Get help from domestic abuse services, tell your GP and quietly escape as fast as you can.
Trust no one, they peddle a false narrative about you so even your own family turn on you and support them (the perpetrator).
When their absence brings you peace, you didn’t lose them. Save your innocent children, no matter what the cost. Doctor Ramani on YouTube has excellent advice. Stay safe.
Is there a support group for narcissist ex partner ?
Yikes, this is my fear. I am so sorry that you are going through this. I think this article touched on the need for therapy. I’m sure your daughter is having a hard time dealing with her father’s erratic behavior and a therapist that specializes in narcissistic abuse would better explain her situation and how to cope. Eventually, she will see you and what you have suffered through. I am guessing, but I think that is what this article implies.
OMG!! I am exactly afraid of being in this situation(going to start the process as I cant take it anymore), how are you holding up and did you ever try to explain her?
Please your advice will be helpful to me.
Good suggestions however, it hard to create any balance even with the child that this behaviour is projected on.
The child become a double victim, because they have been manipulated that much over a long period of time, the child can no longer separate reality from truth.
From a parents perspective it’s emtional ladden, see and hearing the damage the narcissist has done. As a parent your powers are tied up in multiple knots.
Although we have a legal system and services, it’s extremely difficult to show that narcissist as they truly are.
This then fuels the narcissist and the child takes the back lash.
So, overall there is no solution, no one what’s to keep hearing our budens.
We parents and our child/children are in the mists of hopelessness. Regardless of the psychological harm.
If I had a magic wand I’d magic narcissistic behaviour away, I have been dealing with this for over 14 years.
The only advice I have is limit as much contact you have with narcissist.
Be strong for your child create a safe space and be open, having conversations with them when the moment arise, including age appropriate information. I warn you the things the child knows are always inappropriate and not age related.
Narcissist never stop, they fill the child up with gun powered then fire that child, hence the out bursts we caring parents have to deal with.
There’s is a dire needs for society, services, and the legal system to wake up to the damaging impacts of narcissistic behaviour, therefore putting the child first. Child deserve safety, love, and happiness. They never had a choice to have a narcissistic parent.
I was in a relationship with a narcissist and realized it after 2 therapy sessions and never saw the psychologist again. I started seeing him bc I thought I was losing my mind. I was losing my mind! I was never shy about calling the police when I had domestic disputes with my sons father. It was a way of keeping me protected and a paper trail. It’s a lot that happened but the end result was me getting custody of my son and he no longer had parental rights. My son is my world and I have my father and would never want this for my son but I have to protect him and so do you, protect your child and don’t be shy about it! It hurts and it’s not easy however, my son is still young and my goal is to continue to build him up mentally. I never talk bad about his dad and only speak positive about him. I always ask him if he wants to talk to him or call him and sometimes he does but it’s not about the narcissist it’s about the kids and you. Be safe guys and make you a paper trail just in case worse ever comes to worse.
I couldn’t agree more. I was with my ex for 7 years and refused to acknowledge his mental and emotional abuse until it started to become physical. I never called the police on him however because he was my husband and I was trying to fix our relationship. Any advice that I would give is to report it to the local authorities. I told his family about it and they just laughed it off. It’s not worth it to let it go. I wish I had, then maybe our children wouldn’t be suffering in his custody.
Wow! Reading all the comments I feel like everyone lived my life. I was married to a narcissist for 10 yrs, unaware of this personality disorder. Just always thought I was the crazy one, not the good mom. I have a 19,18, and 14 yr old daughters. He has basically turned the older two against me, it wasn’t until I put my youngest into therapy did i realize he was a narcissist. The more I read about it, the more I can’t believe it’s not me!!! Now I think I need therapy or a support group. Let’s start one!
Unfortunately it sounds like I am not alone. Having been thru losing a child for two years to the very person I hoped to protect them from, I wish I could say I would never be back in the exact same situation with another abuser and my other child. I let Marc whole going thru the dark realization my mother was a narcissist and the rage she had when i left with my daughter was something I was not able to fully understand or process…ENTER NEW NARC…blindly desperate I escaped into a relationship and immediately became pregnant with my son now older it’s become painfully clear how my codependent escapism left the door open for abuse. I fear having history repeat itself- e Viking such rage that his father goes after what matters most to me- my son (he can’t go after my daughter she is a well rounded, very grounded adult now 😇. I’m at a loss regarding no contact and it = rage or “getting along” I.e. no reactions, calm passivity. I worry the first choice may end up unleashing harm directed to punish me but leaving my son open to weaponizing-disposable-collateral damage. The second choice concerns me having lived such a long time with abuse and developing patterns of behaviors to protect myself that actually now cause harm (denial, acceptance of abuse, enabling, need for validation) it would be easy for me to slip back into a coma if he’s not that bad and he doesn’t mean to be harmful. I agree with the consensus I need some skilled therapists. I hope I can find some and that I can afford them. Basically I need divine intervention for both of those to happen together. I wish all who suffer a path out of your hell ti one of healing. Good luck.
I haven’t read the article in full mostly because of the bias whic starts off “protect from narcissistic father.” As a father who is doing every thing I can to protect my children from their narcissistic mother, it would be helpful if bias’ and assumptions like this are lessened. Simply changing “father” for “parent” makes for a more inclusive article.
There is also an article about Narcissistic Mothers. Although many things are alike, in some behavior mothers and fathers behave differently
I have been married for 29 yrs & have children in their late twenties. I recently realized that their father is a narc though he was abusive to me throughout the marriage. I protected the children’s emotional health inadvertently because of my own experience with him. I raised them well to go off to colleges away from home at 17. Now after they graduated and came back home during covid, they made their own opinions about him after experiencing repeated narcissitic rages and went ‘no contact’. I am in my sixties and can’t decide if I should work on my resiliency or leave him for good. Leaving may get me into financial difficulties & making me dependent on children. Are their any risks (other than that I have completely lost the joy of children visiting home) that I must consider if I want to stay married to their narc father?