When should you actually cut off a family member or parent?

Are we all toxic and problematic, or are some bonds beyond repair?

Over the years, I’ve had some gale-force rows with my parents. Full on shouting matches. The time I wore high heels at 13. The time I didn’t tell them I’d be staying over a friend’s until 3am. The time I didn’t understand fractions. The time they were too busy to lavish praise on my new scholarship. The time they were very rude about my appearance. The time I was very rude about their appearance. Some stuff, like any family drama, was more insidious and messed up: but I’m not going to air that because that’s just poor show. But my point stands. I have not always liked my parents, I have not always got on with my parents, and I expect there to be times I disagree, dislike and strongly oppose their behaviour in the future: and I expect them to feel the same way about me. The same is absolutely true about my siblings, my cousins, my aunts, and my uncles. That’s just normal. Your family, like you, are not perfect. They won’t get everything right.

Sometimes, you will be related to goblin people

With an increasing trend of ‘cutting off toxic relatives’ doing the rounds, this has conjured mixed feelings in me. Maybe I’m lucky to have relatively few relatives I hope drown in a vat of acid, but it would take a lot for me to say I would never speak to my mother…