Narcissists have incredibly dysfunctional coping skills. Unfortunately this means that their pain can overflow onto those around them.
When my mother was still speaking to me, for about 2 years or so, she kept telling me what a great mother she was to me. She bragged about forcing me to stand up to a bully in seventh grade (she didn’t), taking me to the doctor when I sprained my foot in ninth grade (as she should have) & other ridiculous things. She also wanted me to validate her delusions, agreeing with how great a mother she was to me.
In talking with others who have a narcissistic parent or two, I have learned this behavior is very common. It’s also very painful.
For me, this used to make me so incredibly angry. How dare she want me to enforce her delusions & pretend I was never abused! I felt invalidated, as if she was pretending the abuse she put me through never happened.
God showed me something though. My mother doesn’t have any healthy coping skills, so this is what she does. She knows what she did to me is wrong, but rather than admit that, she goes into denial. She wants to convince herself she was a great mother, even going as far as to try to force me to agree with her.
As ridiculous & dysfunctional as this is, it is her choice & her right. There is no law against having dysfunctional coping skills. That being said, that choice can be respected while not reinforced.
There is no good reason to reinforce such delusions. It only allows the person to continue in their dysfunction while invalidating your own painful experiences. When approached by a narcissistic parent in this situation, I have found it best to remain as neutral & quiet as possible or to change the subject.
Also never forget- this is the narcissist’s coping skill. It has nothing to do with you even though it feels like it does. It just shows how dysfunctional she is. Remembering that helps you not to take the comments so personally & to put the responsibility right back onto the narcissist. This is all about her dysfunction & lack of coping skills- all the responsibility & baggage belongs squarely on her shoulders, period, so leave it there! Don’t take it on yourself- you deserve so much better than to carry her issues & shame.
Cynthia Bailey-Rug, Christian Author 
My mother does the same thing. She has accomplished little else in her life aside from producing 5 children so I suppose that her ego dictates that she garner N supply from that and from the illusion that she has a close, loving family. But the bitter truth is that she has prevented us from enjoying a normal, happy family life by her use of triangulation and manipulation. It’s bad enough that she has done this but lying about it and presenting a false image to the world is infuriating. I know that it’s her coping skill, but so was fomenting conflict and mistrust among her children. Short of a miracle she is unlikely to ever change and that’s why I will not break NC.
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I’m so sorry Suzanne. That is awful. I saw it with my late mother in-law. Even the memory card from her funeral showed that having 4 children was her way of gaining supply- it was some poem about how much a mother loves her children rather than the usual Psalm 23 or “Footprints” poem. These people are incredibly toxic especially to their own children. I don’t blame you one bit for not breaking no contact.
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