Definition: Growing up with guardians whose reliability is as predictable as a slot machine payout, leaving you in a perpetual state of anticipatory dread. One day they’re your champion, the next they vanish emotionally or bail on promises, forcing you to parent yourself while gaslighting you about their absence. It wires your brain to see trust as a high-risk gamble and love as conditional performance art. The damage manifests as adulthood hyper-independence and flinching when people say “I’ve got you.”
Example: “Mark plays Caretaker Roulette every holiday—his dad swore he’d fly in for Christmas, but his flight ‘got canceled’ again. Now Mark buys nonrefundable tickets for solo trips and tells friends ‘reliability is my love language’ through clenched teeth.”