My DH is a lovely bloke and is great in many ways, however he really pisses me off in that he always tries to get the kids to do everything for him, which they then inevitably can't do, and he keeps barking instructions at them, makes no effort to do the job himself, and then I end up having to get involved.
Take today, for example. I went out alone to get the weekly food shop. Got home and one of the doors at the front of the house was open. DD (aged 8) and her friend were sitting in DH's car, which was parked on the road, and our two dogs were running around on the road and on the path. DH was sitting in the house watching TV. He'd told DD to go and turn off the radio in his car (which he'd left on), and she'd let the dogs out. She couldn't work out how to turn the radio off and he kept giving me instructions to tell her how to do it, and it was just quicker to do it myself. he then shouted to DD to 'tell the dogs to come in' and of course the dogs won't do as DD says, so again I had to get involved in that too, to get the dogs in safely. All the time whilst DH just sat there.
He also asks the kids to do things such as run baths for him. So they'll run it and he'll ask if it's the correct temperature, and then he'll keep shouting instructions upstairs such as 'add a bit more cold' or ' how deep is it now?' and it takes so long with all the instructions and to-ing and fro-ing that he could just go up and run the bloody bath himself. I end up going up to help the kids do it as they can't do it and he gets ratty with them. Or he'll send them up to get something for him which they can't find and again it'll be about 20 minutes of 'look here', 'look there', and once again I'll end up going up to find the item.
He also just seems totally incapable of thinking for himself. If he has to do anything child related then there are 20 questions. He had to pick DD up from brownies the other night as I was getting ready to go out and he must have asked me 10 times what time to pick her up. Or any other job he does, such as bath our 4 year old, he tries to draft me into it, asking questions and where things are.
I'm just fed up with it really. We both work full time, not sure if that will make any difference or not to the answers. He probably works slightly longer hours than me, but I do everything in the house generally.
AIBU?
To wish that just sometimes DH would bloody well think for, and do things, himself!!?
Naughtyculture · 06/10/2013 18:08
Does he have any redeeming features at all?
Because he sounds like a complete waste of oxygen.
Barking orders? asking children to run his bath? Unable to carry out simple tasks?
What a catch 
How many 8 yos 'decline' to do something their dad asks them to do, as if they're turning down a final drink in a country club?
It is expected in our house that kids do something if you ask them to. The difference is that they aren't asked to do anything unreasonable or age-inappropriate and they aren't skivvies for us. If my DS leaves his coat on the floor I tell him to hang it up himself, but then by that token the same goes for me - I don't get to make him run around hanging up / fetching / switching off my things. I'm also a human being with working arms and legs.
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Although, to attempt to be fair, he sounds so lazy that if the DC did actually refuse to obey the orders they're given, I doubt he would be bothered enough to get up himself and do anything. As long as they stay out of shouting range they'll be fine. 
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