Why?

Because they leave an emptiness inside us that we feel can only be filled by the affirmation they have denied us for years.

I had the same non-relationship with my father right from childhood. Nothing I achieved was ever good enough and I was always compared to others. Later, the few strained phone calls between us were just as you describe.

The only cure, apparently, is Therapy. I never got that far. I am sorry I can offer nothing more, I spent the whole of my father's life seeking his approval and all I got was a genetic predisposition for Cancer.

Sorry.

Dave.