Many people have had a narcissistic father. Narcissism is everywhere, unfortunately. It has been present in the past, and it will be present in the future. It can ruin people’s lives, not least because it can be difficult to see. Narcissistic parents can ruin the entire course of their children’s lives. This article provides some ways in which you can see if your father is a narcissist.

9 Signs of a narcissistic father: Do any of the following sound like your father?

1. He uses/lives through his son
   Parents want their children to succeed, the saying goes. It is likely that a father with narcissistic traits wants his children to succeed, but not for themselves. No, he will want them to succeed because it will reflect well on himself.

Parents are supposed to raise their children to protect their ideas and hopes. Parents are supposed to make sure their children can live for themselves. The narcissistic father will only ensure that the children live and grow to fulfill their desires, rather than the desires of the child.

2. Marginalization
   Narcissism is an individual trait. People are individuals, but narcissists don’t see it. What they see is an extension of themselves, to do with it as they like.

As kids get older, they start to show their own personalities, their likes and dislikes. This can challenge the narcissistic father, who is used to seeing his children as little miniatures. If this happens, many parents resort to marginalizing their children in order to undermine their success.

These cuts come in many forms, but they have one goal. The purpose is to reduce or destroy trust and self-esteem so that the narcissist never feels threatened by his children.

3. Greatness and superiority
   Most, if not all, narcissistic parents have an extremely inflated sense of themselves. No matter what they do, they feel like they are the best, and they should be at the top of the heap. Therefore, the people around the narcissist are not their own people, but just another way of asserting superiority.

When it comes to a narcissistic parent, this can manifest in two ways: either the child is used as a means of support, or the child is taught to act the same way. Thus the parent can use his child to assert his point of view on the matter.

4. Surface image
   Being superficial does not mean being completely superior. Many narcissists use those around them, including children, to show how special they are. To be superficial is to brag about what is ultimately completely inconsequential.

This can be a good memory (which happens entirely by chance), or material possessions (it doesn’t make sense after all). Many parents may use their children’s social life as a personal boost. It opens up entirely new horizons for the narcissistic father to show off what he has and what he believes.

5. Manipulation
   Manipulation can take many forms. When used by a narcissistic father, the most common forms are:

Emotional coercion
Unreasonable pressure
Reward and punishment – that is, do what I want or be punished
negative comparisons
Shame
blaming
Guilt trips
A particularly common theme of family narcissism is when love becomes conditional. Rather than being something children receive naturally, love is given in exchange for children behaving in a certain way.

Another way to see this is that a father with a narcissistic personality will view love as something to be used as a tool. If his sons do as he pleases, he will reward them with love. If they did not do as he wanted, he would punish them by withholding his love.

6. Inflexible and gentle
   Many narcissistic parents are inflexible when it comes to how they want their children to look and act. Every parent should nurture their child so that he grows up properly, of course. But a father with narcissistic traits will go further: he will correct anything they deem wrong.

What’s particularly unfortunate is that this resilience can manifest itself in many different ways, making it difficult to combat. One of the reasons people are inflexible is that it is a way of controlling children. This tends to work more as the baby gets older and starts spreading their wings.

7. Lack of empathy
   Because narcissistic parents do not see their children as separate from themselves, the lack of empathy is problematic. Children have their own thoughts and feelings, and it is important to validate them. When it comes to narcissism, only narcissists matter. no body else.

Many children will begin to resist when faced with a lack of empathy. They will do this in three different ways:

Fight and stand up for themselves and their right to respect thoughts, feelings, desires, etc.
He distances himself from the concerned parent to gain emotional distance.
the formation of a new personality that acquires the desired personality traits; These children display narcissistic tendencies themselves.

8. Dependency/co-dependency
   A narcissistic father may expect his offspring to be there to care for them in their old age. This is called dependency, and it can take a variety of forms. The most common forms are financial, physical, or emotional, with the physical often the most common.

Caring for aging parents is admirable, but it can be skewed into something unhealthy. Many narcissists can manipulate their children into making unreasonable sacrifices for them, either personally or financially.

A shared dependency works the same way. The definition of a co-dependency is where two people enable each other into actively bad or harmful actions, such as drug use, drinking, or any other such thing.

9. Jealousy and possessiveness
   An essential part of narcissism is always in control of your target. A narcissistic father will show jealousy of anything and anyone his child or children appear to be moving on with.