Have been with DH since mid-twenties and he is now in his early 50s. He was never the most joyful, positive person but over the last few years it has become ridiculous. He is so grumpy about the idea of doing anything new, barely speaks when we're alone together and worst of all is really grumpy with our DC (aged between 11 - 13) the majority of the time. If they do even the smallest thing eg. knock over a glass of water he reacts with such stroppiness - it's not so much what he says but his tone of voice is so rude and dismissive. I get that it's annoying but there's no humour or anything there, it's like they've done something terrible. I see one of my children beginning to react to him with anger as well, and whilst I try to stop my child from being rude sometimes I don't blame them when he talks to them in such a grumpy way all the time.
I think about leaving him but it won't be financially possible for at least a couple of years, and apart from the grumpiness he is a present dad and I know he cares about us all deeply - but how do I continue to live like this? I feel like I can't be myself a lot of the time but have to be this super positive person to get him a bit motivated, or have to be constantly saying stuff like, 'cheer up!' or getting frustrated with how he is with the kids.... It's really tiring! I've tried talking to him but he just says he'll improve and then doesn't. If your partner is like this how do you cope? Do you just ignore it? What do you do when they're like it with the DC too?