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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Am I intolerant and unreasonable or would you also find this infuriating?

338 replies

Rewpf · 19/06/2025 07:49

I feel like I’m going mad at times.

DP takes forever to do anything.

Toilet is 20 mins (I know that seems a theme for a lot of men), getting shoes on….

Dd 2.5’s bedtime…it doesn’t matter when DP starts bedtime, it will always take over an hour for her to be asleep. I cannot understand it. It takes me around 20 mins for quick teeth brush, vitamins and fresh pyjamas. It really messes with her routine.

We went to the beach the other day and me and DD had got changed and ready to leave the beach in the time it had taken DP to brush off his feet and put socks and shoes on again.

Walking… everything is an amble. We needed wipes from the car due to a nappy emergency when out recently. I was holding DD in a difficult position while I watched him casually walk over to the car park. Nothing is done at speed, ever.

We got in the car yesterday and as he got in I suggested the name of a pub for Saturday lunch. Rather than turning the engine on and talking as we go, he sort of slumped into his seat and wanted to get into a big conversation about it whilst we were stationery.

Leaving the house… absolutely horrific. Every small task includes a pause. Shoes on, sit and pause. Stand up, pause. Pick up bag or water etc, pause. often this leads to DD getting really bored and waiting at the door to go out, I even plan it to make sure she starts getting ready with me a bit later on so she’s not waiting around but it simply doesn’t work. He’s always after us.

Dinner… unless we eat out or I’ve cooked, he will have dinner around 9:3-10:30. I have spoken about this so many times…he will insist he wants to cook and I don’t want to put a downer on it but the hours will go by and he doesn’t actually start it.

Shopping. Heaven help me if we stop for petrol and he wants to ‘nip in’ to the shop. Me and DD waited in the car for 25 minutes at a petrol station with a tiny spar shop inside, while he spent an absolute age in there.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, is done quickly. He’s not got any health issues. Early 40s.

For transparency I am quite the opposite to this and can be a bit full on the other way…I’ll have several jobs done within a few minutes, for example. I don’t know if I’m being unfair, it drives me mad but perhaps I need to be more understanding and patient?! He’s a good dad generally and good to me mostly but this makes me feel I’m going crazy!

OP posts:
RobinHeartella · 19/06/2025 08:11

Most people are basically either slow/relaxed/careful/faffy or quick/efficient/organised/rushing

I mean I agree with this to some extent but I reckon both dh and I are somewhere in the middle.

If there's a nappy that needs changing or kids that need to be put to bed, we are like a smoothly oiled machine. If there's time to kill we're like lounging lazy lions. This is normal, surely!

BitOutOfPractice · 19/06/2025 08:10

i agree with a pp that said you both sound a bit extreme. People rushing around doing everything at 1000mph can be very stressful and annoying too. When you tell him you wish he’d speed up, does he say he wishes you’d slow down?

mantaraya · 19/06/2025 08:09

My partner can be like this sometimes. He's such a faffer and has no problem being late which I hate. In the past I've said if you're not ready to leave in 5 mins I'm leaving without you and I actually follow through with it. On the eating at 10pm thing I've said I can't eat after 9:30 as I don't sleep properly. So if it ends up being that late I just don't eat it.

Sounds mad but it actually works.

RobinHeartella · 19/06/2025 08:08

MoistVonL · 19/06/2025 08:06

I think I’d have gnawed my own leg off in frustration and beaten him to death with it.

Me too.

I'm not saying LTB, obviously, but I could never have married and had kids with a man like this in the first place.

How does he cope in the workplace?!

ZippyPeer · 19/06/2025 08:07

Sounds infuriating. Has he always been like this?

gannett · 19/06/2025 08:07

Dinner at 9.30-10.30 is probably the one example that needs to be fixed though. Even the worst faffer can get it together to get food on the table sooner.

MoistVonL · 19/06/2025 08:06

I think I’d have gnawed my own leg off in frustration and beaten him to death with it.

gannett · 19/06/2025 08:06

You both sound a little extreme in either direction.

I'm more on his side - I don't like to do things in a rush (because then mistakes happen and it causes more work later) so if I can think things over and double-check then I will. I can be efficient if I've done this ahead of time and can just go on autopilot. I'm a nightmare faffer leaving the house. I do walk fast though.

DP likes to do things quickly and to be fair isn't usually careless or sloppy, but prioritising speed above all else just isn't the way I can do things. I like to think we've both improved each other a bit, and it's not an issue beyond jokey eye-rolls in either direction.

I guess I wonder how you've only just noticed what he's like? Most people are basically either slow/relaxed/careful/faffy or quick/efficient/organised/rushing, it's not the kind of personality trait you can disguise. You kind of have to accept it in your partner because it can't be fixed either, and if you can't accept it then it's a bad idea to marry them.

Swiftie1878 · 19/06/2025 08:05

TheaBrandt1 · 19/06/2025 08:03

I felt stressed even reading that.

Same. I don’t know how you can bear it.
What does he do for work? (Please don’t say he’s a paramedic or something!)

TheaBrandt1 · 19/06/2025 08:03

I felt stressed even reading that.

Tryinghardtobefair · 19/06/2025 08:02

My partner can be like this. As can DD. I'm probably going to sound like a dick, but I've taken to just saying "Can we have a bit of speed please?!'. And he seems to snap out of it 😂

Rewpf · 19/06/2025 08:00

@DidILeaveTheGasOn yes talked about it loads. He thinks I’m just a bit full on with the efficiency. I just think I’m more normal!

OP posts:
DidILeaveTheGasOn · 19/06/2025 07:58

Have you talked to him about this? The nappy emergency stuck out as a really valid example. Some of the others, just a difference in personality.