OkamiKodomo wrote:~flails~ To those of you that have been adults for longer than me, does anyone know how to convince overbearing mothers to back off?
This is a really touchy situation. It took me years of gracefully working with my parents before they backed off and let me be an independent adult.
It takes direct communication. No hinting or hem-hawing around the issue. It takes a little tough love, and explaining clearly your wants and needs. It might help if you talk about how you're excited for the changes in your life, how you can't wait to take your time and put your new apartment together on your own time, that you really need this for your own emotional development, tell her how important it is for you, ask her if she ever went through that same thing, etc. Try to see if she has a shared experience, ask her what her first independent apartment was like and see if that brings back memories and feelings of that experience.
I think you'll have to clearly tell her what you want, why you want it, tell her that you're super grateful for the time she spent helping you and thank her for all she did, "couldn't have done it without you," your help meant a lot, I'll visit soon.
Why does she want to stay so long? What is her love language? It helps to know her underlying motivation to know how to respond to her.
If she's going to be cleaning and unpacking stuff while you're at work and you don't want that, I'd be up front about it. If she shows love by doing acts of service that could be her 'why.' But she also has to understand that this is something you really need right now, and ask her to be sensitive to that need.
Assertive communication is hard. Especially if we're not used to it. Pushing past any comfort zone is tough enough but directly talking about awkward or uncomfortable things can really stress us. It's so much easier to beat around the bush, to talk about vague things, but once anyone gets past that awkward hump and clears the air with assertive language you'll be amazed at what it can accomplish. "Takes a load off."
After a decade of "peeling away" from my manipulative, controlling, yet "it's because we love you" parents I can say that constant monitoring and sticking with your stance, firm assertive communication, tough love, and grace were the things that helped me develop a much healthier relationship with them. They know what I mean now, and they know I mean what I say.