Parents can be awesome and impossible at the same time, so let’s quietly stack the odds in your favour.
Sometimes they really won’t, at least not right now. That doesn’t mean you’re stupid or dramatic; it means their walls are higher than your words. Focus on what you can still control: your timing, your tone, your backup adults, and your exit routes from fights. Use written messages when talking fails, and repeat the same clear boundary lines instead of changing your story every time. If they stay stuck, shift more energy into building your own skills, money, and support system so you’re less trapped by their behaviour in the long run.
No. Boundaries are not revenge; they’re instructions for how to treat you without breaking you. You can love your parents, see their struggles, and still refuse to be shouted at, hit, guilt-tripped, or controlled in ways that wreck your mental health. In many families, no one ever taught them about boundaries, so your first few tries will feel weird or ‘rude’ to them. Hold your line calmly, repeat your message, and remember: respecting yourself is not the same as disrespecting them, even if they say it is.
If you’re being hit, threatened, starved, sexually harmed, or totally controlled (no school, no documents, no outside contact), that’s not “strict parenting”—that’s abuse. In that situation, the goal shifts from “improve communication” to “increase safety.” That can mean quietly gathering important documents, knowing your legal rights, saving trusted adults’ numbers, using helplines, or planning how to leave in a safe way later. You’re not overreacting if you feel scared in your own house; get information, don’t stay fully alone with it, and treat your safety as more important than keeping the family image perfect.