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Do you love DC more than your DP/DH?

151 replies

Tredhl · 22/05/2022 07:11

My mum always said she couldn’t chose between us and my dad. So I just wondered!

OP posts:
MargosKaftan · 22/05/2022 17:09

I tell my kids I love both of them and dh equally. The truth is my love for them is more. Its a stronger, primative feeling. I'm not sure I'd die for dh. I'd die for my dcs. Even when they are being complete shits. I'm pretty certain dh feels the same.

Before I was pregnant with dc1, I had a recurring zombie themed nightmare that I had to escape from zombies to somewhere safe. When dc1 was a week old, I had the nightmare again, only this time I got to the safe place, but my baby wasn't with me, so I was going back out to get him. Nightmare came again after having dc2 and yes, had 2 dcs to collect up and get back to safety. I never once dreamt I had to go save dh....

Ponderingwindow · 22/05/2022 17:12

It’s different.

part of why I love my husband so much is that his love and prioritization of our child is just as high as mine.

RoyKentsChestHair · 22/05/2022 17:18

Those saying they could leave their OH if he did something awful, sure you could, but leaving doesn’t necessarily stop the love. There’s a difference between having a boundary, enforcing it, and having the corresponding feelings change.

I split with my DP of 9 years last year and I still love him and miss him. Nothing will change that. Despite the fact that he overstepped a known boundary and said some pretty awful things, the way I feel about him hasn’t just disappeared.

When answering these threads before I would always say that the two kinds of love are very different. I would crave my XP, felt physical longing when I didn’t see him for a week, whereas I could take a holiday without my DCs and not really miss them (as I see plenty of them the rest of the year!). I never lost that giddy excitement to see DP even after many years. It was like the heady first flush of love just continued, which was a very powerful thing.

My love for my DCs is a much more steady and calm feeling of being part of the furniture, my heart would absolutely break if anything happened to any of them, but I’d have said the same about XP too. There would never have been a situation which tested the “who would you save in a fire?” question as that would be based on strength, ability, proximity, consciousness etc and nobody can honestly say how they’d react in that situation. I would go through it in my head, what I’d do if there was a fire in the night, and honestly the first person I’d wake up was him, as he could help me save the others! As a partnership, you would work together in a life threatening scenario, not just let each other burn.

Lesperance · 22/05/2022 17:33

Tayegete · 22/05/2022 07:29

I never really understand this question. It’s a different kind of love. Why do you need to quantify it? When are you going to have to line people up in your life in accordance with how much you love them and why would you want to? Does a sibling outrank a close friend?

Obviously I love my DC and want to protect them but I chose to be with DH and in a few years my DC will have moved out out and have their own lives and it will just be me and him. Does that mean I love him more - no it’s just different.

You have put this beautifully. I've never understood why people make the distinction either. I wouldn't have them without him and I don't have the same sort of love for them as I do for him. But I don't need to rank them.

Openup · 22/05/2022 17:48

Absolutely. No question.

DangerouslyBored · 22/05/2022 17:51

runnerbeany · 22/05/2022 11:47

Definitely husband. I think the 'volume' of love is very similar, but husband has the edge. Then add into the equation that he is my life partner, my other half. My children, I hope, will be in my life until I die, but they will not share everything with me in the same way as my husband. I want them to live their own lives. The closeness between husband and wife in a loving marriage is another level.

I have had a stillbirth (which though horrific I appreciate is not the same as the death of a child who you have lived with and whose character you know), and whilst it was phenomenally painful, it did make me realise how enormous my love for my husband is.

I actually think that a couple who love each other primarily and greatest can provide a really good, secure "base" for children to grow up in. If I put myself in my child's shoes, I think I would like the security of knowing that my parents' love for each other was that strong. I don't think it's a negative thing. It doesn't make me a slave to my husband, or him to me. Obviously if my husband did things which were negatively affecting the children, I won't blindly agree with him. We'd sort it out. But that wouldn't make me love him less.

I think my love for both husband and child is unconditional. I will love them both until I die, and nothing either could do will change that. They could do things which would make me want to stop living with them (husband or adult children), or make me hate their actions, but the love would remain. The only difference therefore between the two is the partnership aspect, which makes me much closer to my husband than I can ever be to my children.

I’m with you on all of this.

icelollycraving · 22/05/2022 17:53

I’d rank it Ds, then the cat, then dh.

CambsAlways · 22/05/2022 17:54

Well it’s a difference kind of love isn’t it

bakewellbride · 22/05/2022 18:00

@ferneytorro yes but I don't phrase it like that. I tell ds I love him more than anyone else in the whole world and that that will never change. I tell dd too but she's a newborn still!

bakewellbride · 22/05/2022 18:03

Yes op of course I love my children more than my husband (and trust me I absolutely adore my husband). I love my children unconditionally so in any hypothetical situation I'd love them. Would I love dh if he did something terrible e.g murder / rape / something awful to a child? No.

LadyDanburysCane · 22/05/2022 18:19

Would I love dh if he did something terrible e.g murder / rape / something awful to a child? No.

I wouldn’t love my DC if they did any of those things either TBH.

bakewellbride · 22/05/2022 18:22

@LadyDanburysCane I would obviously be heartbroken, ashamed, disgusted etc and would go absolutely mental at them... but I would still love them.

britneyisfree · 22/05/2022 20:35

WildCoasts · 22/05/2022 08:07

If something happened to one of my children, I couldn’t go on.

If something happened to one of your children you could and would go on, for no other reason than for the other child(ren).

I don't feel the need to think about whether I love my DH or DC more. It's a very different kind of love.

I know of a woman who took her own life a few days after her daughter had taken her life.

She left her other kids behind and I still can't get my head around how she could do that.

Yes I love my dc more than anything. I have only one at the moment and she is everything to me.

Olsi109 · 22/05/2022 20:39

DisgruntledPelican · 22/05/2022 07:14

Yes. My love for my DC is unconditional, they are part of me and that will never change.

I love DH but I’ve chosen him, and if his behaviour or attitude changed to be negative towards me, I’d be very sad but I’d leave.

Exactly this.

SugarNspices · 22/05/2022 20:43

My mum once said to me my dad admitted to her her loved her more than us. I always found it strange why she would tell me that. I'm not that close to my parents obviously

thenewduchessoflapland · 22/05/2022 20:46

Yes of course;it's normal and natural.I'd choose my children always.

I unfortunately grew up with a father who didn't understand this concept and often said in front of us to my mum "you love those kids more than me" which is really messed up.

Lochjeda · 22/05/2022 21:56

@KangarooKenny I suppose there independence is testament to how well you have brought them up. Our children being confident and independent is what we try to instill in them when bringing them up.

What age are both your daughter and son and how far do they live away. My step mum says my step sister (27) is very independent and never replies to texts for ages. She still continues to text yo even just say thinking of you hope you are well. She will also say I'm going to your city on x date, are you around to grab breakfast/lunch/a drink? Rather than asking. Not sure how your finances are, but if you can afford it and your son is at uni I'd maybe drop him a message saying how are you, are you okay for food, if you'd like to do a food shop to be delivered im happy to cover it for you. Do you never all meet up for family things, like my dad had me and my siblings and families over at Easter for food and drinks. We will have some bbqs in Summer, we will meet up for bdays (maybe not on the actual day if vday person has their own plans etc) keep trying because when they get a bit older and more mature things will get better if you keep trying and showing you care and are there for them.

Sapphire387 · 22/05/2022 22:06

No. It's a completely different kind of love, but neither is stronger than the other.

MyBrilliantFriend · 22/05/2022 22:12

I would die for my DH. But I’d push him in front of the bus to save our DC. He would say the same.

Hadalifeonce · 22/05/2022 22:13

Nope, just very differently.

MiddleParking · 22/05/2022 22:29

When are you going to have to line people up in your life in accordance with how much you love them and why would you want to?

i see you haven’t been on the weddings topic head tilt

Stompythedinosaur · 23/05/2022 01:51

Of course I love the dc more! I think it is wierd that anyone doesn't. I love dp a lot, but my love for my dc eclipses everything.

He feels the same.

WildCoasts · 23/05/2022 04:26

britneyisfree · 22/05/2022 20:35

I know of a woman who took her own life a few days after her daughter had taken her life.

She left her other kids behind and I still can't get my head around how she could do that.

Yes I love my dc more than anything. I have only one at the moment and she is everything to me.

I kind of understand and I might only still be here because of my husband and other children. That first year I focused on my children and how I couldn't do that to them. They suffered enough when their sister died. It got me through. I know other parents who have lost older children too. It was our inability to leave our other children that kept us here.

I don't think someone who can't hold on the way we did has less love for their children though. The mental place they find themselves just doesn't allow them to see it or think clearly about it.

Whooshaagh · 23/05/2022 04:56

When my df left my dm for a woman who already had 2 younger dc he told my dm that it was ‘normal’ to love the dc of the person you are in love with more than your own.
40 years later the dsc are in his will but never visit and rarely contact him. Definitely not reciprocated.

I adore my dh but I don’t worry about him like I do my adult dc.
However the dgc are the ones I would save first now. Cannot understand any gp that doesn’t want to have a relationship with gc,

mrssunshinexxx · 23/05/2022 05:03

Yes, it's on a whole different level.
Don't get me wrong I love my husband very much but he could do an number of things that would make me fall out of love with him , cheat, maybe emotionally/ physically abusive, ruin us financially etc

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