What advice do you have about relationships between sensing parents and intuitive children? What can be done to mediate conflict? I am INFJ and my parents are ESFJ and ISTP. I think that these psychological differences tend to aggravate the social differences by which younger generations already seem too "liberal" or "free-thinking" to older generations. Do you think this is true?
The Relationships section already covers this topic.Differences don’t have to cause conflict unless the individuals involved are indulging self-righteousness. Whether it’s S v N, T v F, E v I, J v P, male v female, young v old… to achieve a healthy and deep relationship, both individuals should be committed to lovingly bridging differences and patiently creating enough space for equal and authentic self-expression.
Every human quality, trait, or characteristic has its advantages and disadvantages; until you recognize and accept this, you won’t be able to appreciate anyone who is different from you and, worse, you’ll be blind to your own shortcomings, e.g. “liberal” is sometimes really just “self-centered”, “free-thinking” is sometimes really just “ungrounded”, “young” often means “ignorant” in the real world. In order to relate to others in a genuine way, you have to have a humble acceptance and mature understanding of your own shortcomings. Can you claim that you approach your parents with this level of self-awareness rather than self-righteousness? Are you saying that your parents are incapable of productive dialogue and would go so far as to abuse any attempt to build a bridge?
The parent-child relationship is an archetypal one with predictable conflicts: It is common for children to demonize parents out of self-centered entitlement rather than treating them as human beings with their own needs and desires, and it is common for parents to violate their child’s autonomy out of excessive worry for their safety - does your approach to the relationship do anything to improve upon this predictable dynamic, or do you assume and perform your child’s role perfectly to keep the conflict going?
