
Cardwell mum and founder of Conscious Parenting Movement, Paisley Rylance, says parents need to consider ditching their biological family for a new tribe if their family is not serving or nourishing them as parents.
She said being in a toxic relationship with our families can lead to depression and anxiety, particularly in new parents already prone to post-natal depression.
“We hold the expectation that our family will be there to help out in a supportive space. So when they don’t, it can bring up feelings of loneliness and depression and anxiety, especially for first time parents,” Paisley said.
“As a society we tend to be quite wrapped up as a society in a sense of obligation and feel as though we must listen and act on advice, even when it doesn’t feel right.”
Team Mamamia shares the worst things they’ve said to their mother-in-law.
Paisley works with families to support them from conception onwards to connect to themselves, their children and partners to help them raise healthy children.
She said there are a lot of parents that are in toxic relationships because they are hanging onto biological family and a sense of obligation. Different parenting styles can be the biggest cause of the break up in the family dynamics.
This is common even among couples where the mum, for example, wants to co-sleep and breastfeed, but the dad wants to put baby in a different room and bottle feed.
“Often, I see the conflict can come from the mother-in-law and then the toxicity then grows because of the conflict between the father and his mother,” she explained.
Paisley said mums can also experience unhealthy relationships within mothers’ groups or playgroups too.
“I regularly hear from mums that they don’t enjoy the women they hang out with in groups such as playgroup. It can often feel forced. When you begin connecting with people who are like you it feels natural and easy and comfortable.”

Top Comments
There is a huge lack of detail in this story, but as presented it seems like something of an overreaction. If Grandma doesn’t like your parenting style, there are ways of saying ‘thanks, but this is how I’m choosing to raise my child’. Going straight to cutting contact seems excessive. A good friend of mine is in a situation where she has had to cut off a family member, for the safety of her and her family. It was not an easy decision, and it was an absolute last resort.
Ive just read this women bio on just website. She makes all these claims about working with people with mental illness, kids with disabilities and being a parenting expert and her only qualifications are in yoga and chakra dance! Apparently she's studying a degree in the mental health area... how do these people get a following!
Doesn’t appear she *has* much of a following! 2 followers on Instagram, and thirty-something likes on FB. The website seems fairly new, the links take you to the Wix social media pages rather than her own. Makes me wonder how she managed to get an article on a site like Mamamia, do they do any background research on the qualifications of people who write for them?