Surprising Ways Your Parents’ Infidelity Affects You

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My dad was unfaithful to my mother a lot. There were a few women for sure, and that’s only the ones we know of. I can only imagine there were many others that just never made it onto our radar. Considering we know for sure he cheated when I was one year old and when I was 15 years old—yes, I’m serious—it doesn’t take much imagination to think that if he was willing to cheat one year in, and 15 years in, there was probably some stuff happening in between. I doubt he just took an over-a-decade break. I was only 15 years old when we found out and the way it affected me hit me in waves. I had my reactions during my teenage and college relationships. Those were pretty strong and untethered reactions. Even after a lot of therapy, and an understanding that my dad’s infidelity doesn’t have to impact my life at all, I still see small ways that it does. Here are surprising ways your parents’ infidelity can affect you.

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If your dad cheated, you think all men are bad

If you’re a woman and it’s your father who did the cheating, you can believe all men are bad. He was your role model for a “good man” and then he was…not a good man. You can start to believe that every man you pass on the street has bad intentions and disgusting thoughts, and truly hate men for a while. Eventually you realize that doesn’t do you much good.