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He wishes we'd not had (now teen) DC. It drives me insane!

24 replies

WildMooseChase · 11/04/2026 08:14

DP of over 20 years, dad to our young teen DC, says fairly regularly that he wishes we'd never had children. Never in earshot of our DC but I hate it!

He struggles with anxiety and depression for which he is not receiving therapy nor medication at the moment (although when he's had either or both in the past, it's not made much difference). His wobbly MH is a constant feature of our relationship and a factor in most of the decisions we make or don't make, one way or another. When overwhelmed or in a slump, he'll throw this comment out in a sort of blunt, matter of fact way, and then say nothing. He might add "That's probably hard for you to hear," as an after-thought. Or maybe say something else, like "We should have paved over the garden years ago."

I've tried to 'listen beyond the surface' as I saw someone suggest on a similar thread years ago, tried not to 'take it personally', to tell myself 'he is entitled to his big feelings', tried to really get to the bottom of it, and give him space to express himself, but I'm so over it now. I feel like I know why he says it, but it's kind of immaterial. It's clear that he loves our DC -I get that the two experiences aren't mutually exclusive- and he doesn't give them cause to suspect he thinks like this, but he doesn't have to bloody keep blurting it out.

Without too much outing detail, I will be leaving him in the next 12 months and this is sort of known and accepted. He occasionally tries to make things difficult but it's the way it is inevitably drifting, and ducks are pretty much lined up. But we'll still be co-parenting and he'll still be in my life. So how do I stop this from making me absolutely loathe him?

OP posts:
Rubbleonthedouble2 · 11/04/2026 08:18

I don't think you can, what a nasty thing to keep bringing up. I'd understand saying it once or twice during a heart to heart, but what the fuck is he expecting from you? A big reaction? Agreement? A row?

Fwiw I would hate him too.

I hope when you've separated you can start living life more on your terms.

CocoaTea · 11/04/2026 08:21

“So how do I stop this from making me absolutely loathe him?”

I am not sure you can, to be honest. It’s not a nice thing to say at all.

I am relieved to read that you have plans to leave. I would just throw myself into all the arrangements for that. How will you be sharing custody?

I guess as a coping mechanism, every time he said that I would intentionally make a point about saying something kind, praising or loving to DC - every single time - even if DC hadn’t heard DH’s comment. It would make me feel like I was diluting the negativity.

CleanGreenScreen12 · 11/04/2026 08:22

My ex was similar, he is a much better part time / every other weekend Dad than he was full time. It works for some people and everyone is happier.

Interested in this thread?

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Daffodillz · 11/04/2026 08:24

Do you tell him how it negatively affects you and your relationship? It's understandable that you're moving towards loathing him if he's aware of the impact but not attempting to seek help or change his behaviour in any way.

MontythePrince · 11/04/2026 08:25

His need to express his big feelings do not trump yours. So feel free to tell him how much joy your son brings you.

or just tell him to stfu

Pandorea · 11/04/2026 08:29

It can’t be nice for him having those feelings. It sounds like a miserable way to live. Maybe when you’re separated it will be easier to feel sorry for him having to live in that state. I think would be very hard to tolerate living with day to day though.

BlessedAreThePureOfHeart · 11/04/2026 08:29

I think I would have to just say, yes you've said that before, now I don't want to hear it thanks.
Or say I wish I hadn't married you but oh well

User56785 · 11/04/2026 08:29

Leave him as soon as you can.
Care less about his struggles with anxiety and depression.
Leave the room or house when he is overwhelmed or in a slump before he has a chance to say something.
React less and detach more.
Understand that you aren’t responsible for how he feels or for fixing him.

JetFlight · 11/04/2026 08:33

He knows he impacts you with that statement. You feel it and tried to engage with it. You can stop reacting or just agree with him “yeah, you probably shouldn’t have.” But probably best to not even acknowledge it. It’s such a horrible thing to say and really and there’s nothing to gain now from trying to figure out why he’s saying it.
Glad you’re leaving.

Stoneycold12 · 11/04/2026 08:37

You sound very patient with him, but as you know the relationship is ending, I think you should push back and tell how hearing him wish your DC away makes you feel.

Just tell him that when he says it again that you never want to hear him say it again, as it makes you despise him, he can think what he likes but he doesn't get to share his every thought and feeling with you.

I'd also let him know that as he won't take any responsibility for improving his mental health, you don't want to hear anything about his feelings at all.

I would also be concerned that your DC may be aware of what your DP is saying, very easy for kids to overhear their parents conversations.

Glad you're leaving him.

SheilaMaid76543 · 11/04/2026 08:56

Sorry you have been going through this difficult situation for so long op. I am not quite sure I understand what you are hoping for in this scenario though?

As you have experienced, people with serious mh issues, often don’t have sufficient bandwidth in their head to be unselfish and look at things from another person’s perspective and therefore often don’t make great spouses or parents through no fault of their own, because just getting through every day is a struggle. Will your dh really change after such a long time?

Another factor is that good mh often depends on having a flexible attitude to life and rolling with the punches, accepting reality, and adapting to change. Therefore people who have a very fixed idea of how parenthood might be, cannot cope when the reality is different.

Also our brains are receptive to the things we think and say out loud, over and over! After a while we start to believe what we tell ourselves repeatedly.

So it sounds like your dh is pretty “stuck” mentally speaking and you don’t want to follow down that path yourself.

** Edited & corrected: sorry just saw that your son is a young teen and not twenty,

… you are divorcing your dh, you have endured many years of trying to be patient and understanding. Now you are splitting, I don’t really know what you can do to change your dh’s mindset after all of this time, or even if you should be trying op? Or whether you can put any firm boundaries in place that will stick?

Your son is nearly grown up! There won’t he huge amounts of co-parenting involved will there? Why is it necessary for you to do anything further at all? Is your son too young to take the lead on logistical arrangements? Could it be that you have been holding your family together for so long that you can’t let go of that role and that you are a bit “stuck” too?

On the other hand your dh could do lots of work on himself! It’s probably a bit too late to be doing this but he needs to work through his parenting issues with a therapist and not lay it on you, or God forbid, on his son.

Tbh if his narrative is that he is blaming the stress of parenting on him becoming mentally ill, or he is saying that he could have been more successful in life if he hadn’t had the responsibility of a child, and being a parent has held him back professionally, and that is making him depressed, you would be well within your rights to challenge these narratives and tell him he needs to go away and sort himself out in order to have any hope of co-parenting with you in a civil manner.

And until he makes progress, you have every right to distance yourself and just focus on your own life and your son’s and try and achieve some peace and contentment for yourself 💐

zurigo · 11/04/2026 09:11

If you've only got another 12 months to go in a relationship with this miserable git I think I'd just tell him to fuck off if he kept saying it. You know he feels this way, he's just being a jerk by continuing to mention it. Bide your time and get rid of him. He sounds like a dead weight.

ThePollutedShadesOfPemberley · 11/04/2026 09:16

"Oh that old chestnut again? Change the fuckin record. I'm sick of it and you in that order!"

Express it OP. What have you got to lose? He's using you to vent and that is all sorts of wrong. Once you are apart, do not allow him to keep doing that. Make him stand on his own two feet in that respect.

FasterMichelin · 11/04/2026 09:21

I’m not clear on your situation. If he knows you’re ending the relationship soon, isn’t it already over? I mean, if my partner said he’s leaving and just getting everything ready, I’d instantly emotionally switch off and wouldn’t care too much about your feelings anymore.

Theres clearly a lot more to this.

Sounds like you both either get help together to make the relationship work or end it now and hope that means you can coparent effectively. Breaking up with someone over a year or two sounds really tough on both parties and is a sure fire way of creating resentment and irreparable sour feeling. Why are you trying to enjoy his company when you’re already emotionally separated? Just move room and ignore him.

MintTwirl · 11/04/2026 09:22

It sounds to me like he is trying to goad you into a reaction a bit like when a small child says the worst thing they possibly can think of to hurt your feelings. I would have little patience for this kind of thing but I understand that it is easy for me to say.
Im glad to hear you are leaving, good luck OP.

IdentityCris · 11/04/2026 09:48

Have you ever asked him what on earth is the bloody point of saying that? He knows he can't change anything, so what does he think it will achieve apart from hurting you and, potentially, your children? Or is that what he wants to achieve, and if so, why?

10namechangeslater · 11/04/2026 10:00

Leave sooner and be free of this miserable entitled pathetic man

Tacohill · 11/04/2026 10:31

I’m not a petty person but I would struggle to not be nasty in this situation.

I would tell him to shut the fuck up, every single time and tell him to get over himself and stop acting like a petulant child.

I’d also tell him how you wish you never married him and certainly wish you chose a different father for your DCs.

He is trying to wear you down.
This is not an illness.
He is trying to make you feel guilty and make you feel sorry for things that you cannot change.

If he genuinely felt like this, then he would keep it to himself.

Tell him you are not his fucking therapist and do not even engage in this pathetic behaviour.

He’s vile.
I’m so glad you’re leaving him.

Aberdyfi · 11/04/2026 10:45

Tell him that you don’t regret having your son, you do regret choosing him as his Father. Don’t let him steal another minute of your life.

begonefoulclutter · 11/04/2026 11:10

Have you told him that you never want to hear him say that again, and what was his response?

ChiliFiend · 11/04/2026 11:53

I went through a period of depression where I said the same thing a lot. I felt like parenting was driving a wedge between me and my husband and that we would break up over it - I felt like he didn't think I was a good parent. Looking back on it now I can't recognise the feeling; I can't imagine life without my kids and they bring me so much joy (and even when I don't, that's not the thought I go to). If you wanted to stay with your husband I would encourage you to ask why, to see what is triggering that thought (I wish that's what my husband had done) - but given you're splitting up, I'm not sure what the point would be. Maybe just say to him "I don't ever want to hear that again - tell someone else but not me."

Ilovelurchers · 11/04/2026 12:05

Well, I guess it's one of the reasons you are splitting up? And if you can't cope with it (reasonable position) you have the option to speed up the process.

I guess he feels how he feels - it doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't love his dc, just that he thinks his life would be better without them.

But as he knows you are leaving, explain to him that you are no longer an appropriate person for him to share his inner turmoil?

WildMooseChase · 11/04/2026 17:33

Thanks for the reality check. It really does feel gross. And I think I've been far too patient. And probably not great at setting boundaries, forgetting that just because he wants to say it, it doesn't mean I have to actively receive it. I'm just so used to 'being there' to facilitate his low moods, that things like this have 'slipped through' too.

And it does feel goady. He knows I'm done responding because I find it provocative (I find I can't respond to anything when I feel manipulated or guilt-tripped), but all the same, he still blurts it out and leaves it like a steaming pile of dung on the carpet, without making any moves to clear it up, or to 'repair the rupture' as our family therapist used to say, when we thought there was still something that could be done.

OP posts:
FemBotinaManputerWorld · 11/04/2026 20:15

I suffer from depression (and anxiety and OCD) and when I am bad with it, I have a tendency to repeat particular phrases. Often in my head, sometimes out loud. They are usually something stark and a bit shocking. I don’t know why but every time I say it, it’s like a little release valve. It just makes me feel a tiny bit better. It’s also a way to communicate, to shock another person into understanding how bad I feel or provoke a reaction. I know this is terrible behaviour but it is what happens when I’m very unwell especially when I’m not medicated. When I was younger it was “I wish I was dead”, another stage it was “I hate myself and want to die”. It used to make my mum cry. Maybe this is similar for your husband?
I know it’s not much comfort but if it is coming from depression, sometimes the person really can’t control it. It is a terrible illness all around but I think the worst part is the way that it can destroy relationships.

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