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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask the MN jury to help me and DP solve an argument? (warning trivial)

189 replies

woopdiedoo · 10/10/2012 18:00

DP came home from work and spotted a sweet wrapper left on the floor. It had been there since yesterday but I had forgotten to throw it away and hadn't been in that room today so didn't see it.

There is a rule that there is no eating in that room (his rule) but I sometimes let the DCs eat sweets, crisps in there.

We have just had a blazing row about it because he just left it there and told me to pick it up as I let the DCs eat in there and I'm at home all day anyway (SAHM with toddler) so should have dealt with it. I thought that he should because he'd seen it and even though I am a SAHM does not mean that I should do ALL housework and he should do none at all and I do not like being ordered to pick up rubbish as I am not a litter warden.

Who is being unreasonable?

OP posts:
Hullygully · 10/10/2012 22:25

you are both not quite the ticket

QuintessentialShadows · 10/10/2012 22:25

He is quite unreasonable. You are bringing up your children and work as both a taxi service, cleaning, cooking and laundry facility, in addition to parenting.

He is quite insane to make a point over a sweet wrapper. Now, of course, you need to frame said wrapper and hang it over the mantel piece to remind you both that "HUSBAND IS UNREASONABLE" Or turn it into a medal with caption "Gold medal in obsessive pedantic Twattery" for your husband to hang around his neck.

woopdiedoo · 10/10/2012 22:25

What do you mean hully?

OP posts:
woopdiedoo · 10/10/2012 22:28

Oh, I just chucked the damn wrapper. Then tried to explain why he should have just picked it up himself. The ensued the usual argument about how hard he works and he shouldn't come home to go housework.

OP posts:
woopdiedoo · 10/10/2012 22:29

Grrrr, typos!

OP posts:
Hullygully · 10/10/2012 22:32

If you bith have an agreement, you should both stick to it.

If there is a wrapper, whoever sees it, shoulddeal with it.

Hullygully · 10/10/2012 22:32

both

RandallPinkFloyd · 10/10/2012 22:34

It's lovely isn't it, makes me well up every time I read it [over-emotional wreck emoticon]

woopdiedoo · 10/10/2012 22:34

Yes, I quite agree hully. That's what I say to him every time he orders me to pick up something left on the floor because of course he shouldn't have to if he works.

OP posts:
Kalisi · 10/10/2012 23:04

Coola schmoola, as much as I want to shout at Op's husband for his attitude and way he handled the situation, You do have a very good point. I have a couple of rules in our house that I know DH thinks are ridiculous but he helps enforce them out of respect.

Kalisi · 10/10/2012 23:09

Oops just read your response Op. Im back to the whole controlling " he's being a dick" way of thinking Grin

Softlysoftly · 10/10/2012 23:23

Does he realise the perfect house is impossible? If you tidy one room and deep clean it your toddler will be busy emptying every drawer in the other room then making a junk mountain to play in from your clean washing.

Say fine that you will keep the house perfect if he can prove he could. He takes 3 days off work, you go to your parents. If its spotless when you come back (and his dsis hasn't been round with a mop) then I'll have Hectates £1000 please.

BreconBeBuggered · 10/10/2012 23:52

I was once seriously ill and my fanatically houseproud MIL came to stay and keep the household running so that DH could go to work. DC were around 9 and 18 months. She had the house immaculate. I read DS1's school diary for the week afterwards. It said: 'Granny came to stay. She cleaned the house a lot and didn't look after my brother properly'.

HecateLarpo · 11/10/2012 06:40

If he is reading this, then he should know that love is not always unconditional. It needs to be nurtured, protected. And there are things you can do to make your partner so unhappy that they start to love you less. And that's a terrible thing. Far worse than a sweet wrapper on the floor. Treating your wife like your servant will come back and bite you on the bum in a very painful way.

There are ways that you can thrash out an issue without making the other person feel wretched.

OP, do you get on with his sister? I don't know if the following would work, or if it would be a disaster, it depends on your relationship with her. Would it be an option to talk to her and ask for tips on how she keeps her house so immaculate, because your husband is always having a go at you and you are feeling really upset about it all.

Because I'm thinking you'll discover she either has a cleaner, or her partner helps or something.

This may not be right for you, it's just an option and depends on your circumstances and everyone's relationships and personalities.

JustFabulous · 11/10/2012 07:20

He is a bully.

BatterseaGirl · 11/10/2012 07:46

I am a SAHM and I have a cleaner and I still can't keep on top of keeping the house tidy. I have four DCs, three at school. Every week after my cleaner has been I think that this will be the week that I keep on top of the house but then the DCs get back from school, dump bookbags etc and we start all over again. Actually I work one day a week and DH stays at home. I also run a toddler group one morning a week and I'm a school governor. My DH and I sometimes have words about the state of the house but that's usually when he's stressed at work. I sometimes feel guilty about having a cleaner but DH fully supports me having a cleaner as he knows I can then concentrate on the proper stuff - i.e. bringing the kids up. There's a great book called What Mothers Do - and it's not housework! It's all the other stuff which is so hard to describe. Get your DH to read it OP. he might see your role in a different way.

Lueji · 11/10/2012 07:46

Because I'm thinking you'll discover she either has a cleaner, or her partner helps or something.

Or the kids watch tv all day...

Lueji · 11/10/2012 07:57

For your H:

Ex was a SAHD, not per choice as he went on incapacity because of social anxiety as DS was born.
I would be away from home easily the 10 hours or more.

I did expect sone more input in the house from ex, but only once DS went to school.
And because I was the one waking up early to get DS ready, taking him to school, putting him to bed, as well as doing the laundry, and often working 50/50 in diy projects, plus the shopping, and found time for gardening.

I wouldn't dream of telling ex rules about eating, nor would I tell him to go pick up a wrapper!
You are being a twat to your wife and if you keep up like this the MN verdict may well turn to leave the bastard.

Some people are better at housework than others.
Your wife may not be great at tidying up, but neither am I and I wonder if you are.
If you happen to be, then do it yourself!

HecateLarpo · 11/10/2012 09:12

yes, or the kids watch tv all day Grin

or she doesn't have a pre-schooler.

pictish · 11/10/2012 09:44

Sounds like an overbearing, self important clown to me!

I am amusing myself imagining the shock he'd get if he were married to me! Grin

Hahahaaa!

mistlethrush · 11/10/2012 10:01

woopdiedoo - does he never leave anything out of place?

Oh and I would stop bothering to do his laundry too because if you're dealing with the house and the children that's certainly something that he can do himself. And I would eat with the children (and let him do his own meal) as it will mean that you can get the little one off to bed in good time so that you can be really noisy with the hoover when he's trying to watch TV.

QuintessentialShadows · 11/10/2012 10:03

My house is always immaculate. On a Wednesday, in fact two Wednesdays per month to be precise. That is when the cleaner comes! Grin

Luckily my husband is not obsessed with a clean house. He is concerned with happy well adjusted kids and to have a happy home environment for us all to thrive in.

His issue with a sweet wrapper on the floor, would not be in terms of my tidiness, but a child big enough to eat a wrapped sweet should be old enough to take their rubbish to the bin!

I must admit though, it is a lot easier to keep the house tidy with a 10 and a 7 year old, than with toddlers. They can entertain themselves while I get on with things. A toddler cant.

How much time does your husband spend being a dad? How often does he get quality one on one time with his kids? And you? How often does he do bed time with them? Read them stories and chat to them?

My husband does this almost every evening. It is a fair division, I get the morning and the morning chores, and he the evening ones. This suits us. He needs to get to work, I have flexible hours. I am lucky in that I can wrap my working hours around the kids school.

How often does your husband take them to the pool, cinema, activities?
Mine does on a regular basis. He goes off with them on a Saturday or Sunday at least once a month, letting me potter or do "my own" thing. He takes them cycling, skate boarding, swimming, or to event such as Farnboro airshow, etc.

He wants to do these things. He enjoys his children and time with them. He likes spending time with them. He also likes that I am happy. That I get some time to do gardening, meet up with friends, or what ever. Some weekends he go on cycling events on his own, so it is only fair that I also get to just do my own stuff. Most weekends we spend together though.

From the little you post I gather you live in a 1960's Swedish Bergmanesque novel. (Fanny & Alexander for example). The Man in the house reigns supreme, by no other notion that he is male. Separated from both his wife and children, through choice. Because he works, he provides, so he enjoys this unique position.

For an outsider it becomes quite clear that he is both weak and pathetic, claims to superiority, simple from this one statement "I work". Purely defined by this one quality, that he shares with most of the population. Not that he is unique, in any way, or a good father, a good husband, or even a good man. A man who scores points in this way rarely is.

Op, I feel for you. I think you have got a rotten bargain in your marriage, in your choice of life partner.

woopdiedoo · 11/10/2012 10:58

Thanks again for all the replies.

Perhaps I have been a bit unfair on DP. What he does do -
Works 10 or more hour days
He puts one DC to bed, I do the other
Takes one of the DCs to her activities on a Saturday

He relented to my nagging to give me a hand on weekends but this resulted in him wanting to chick away things that I wanted to keep. I feel like it is his way or no way. If I get his help, I am 'punished' by having to throw away things I want to keep. He also wants things doing to his timetable. We have been sorting out the junk/spare room out to turn into a room for the youngest. I think I have made massive progress with it but he only sees that it is not finished and it is still not ready for DC to go into.

He very occasionally has all the DCs but never for more than a few hours. Often I come home to find that the eldest has been roped in to help with the youngest. He claims he can't have her because I still BF and co sleep and she is not sleeping through the night and he can't get her back to sleep. This means that I don't get to go out very often and I am more often than not, called home to take over.

I would say he is naturally untidy too. He doesn't like 'stuff' and 'clutter' so is more ruthless about what to get rid of but he will leave crumbs on the countertop after making sandwiches, his hairs in the sink after shaving, little toothpick things on the floor, I once found his toenail clippings in the gas fire behind the fake coals!

He is probe to over exaggerating. He will put done of his own clothes in the washing machine (I will too up the load and do the rest - drying/folding) but he'll then say he does his own washing and I do none for him. This despite the fact that he has a huge clean folded pile ready for him to put away (which I stopped doing for him in protest). It goes back to the fact that he is absolutely clueless about how long things take and what is involved. I once told him I spend 1 or 2 hours doing laundry. He didn't believe me so I broke down every step in doing laundry since he claimed it takes 10 mins to load a machine and switch it on. But we all know there's more to it than that - especially with a 'helpful' toddler. But if I say that he says I should just leave her to cry if something needs doing, it's not hard. But I don't want to neglect her for household chores. I personally feel I have the balance right. The house isn't disgusting, filthy date but DD gets enough of my attention and some activities to get her out if the house.

If I'm honest, his attitude towards DC3 worries me if I were to leave him on his own with her. If I am struggling with something and she wants my attention and I point it out, he dumps her in her high chair ands says 'that's all you have to do, problem solved' while she screams. As others have said, I feel my primary role us as her mother while I am caring for her and I am not happy to leave her to her own devices to clean the house.

I most nights, do housework after the children have gone to bed not going to sleep until 1 in the morning. But he just thinks I am playing on my phone. And then I am critised for feeling so tired. Admittedly I do come on here when I have 5 mins or for longer in the evening because I want some time to myself to do something other than being a 'wife' and mother.

He may have had a point about the house when the DCs were younger as I couldn't cope with the amount of washing we were producing and I had 2 of them at home to occupy. Plus the kids fight so I spend a fair proportion of time dealing with their arguments, doing time outs (and ensuring they stay put) but these things are disregarded in his head.

OP posts:
woopdiedoo · 11/10/2012 11:05

I have asked SIL many times how she does it. She doesn't have preschoolers any more but her house was always immaculate when they were younger. I think she had a cleaning schedule so she got everything done on the morning. I know she didn't go to baby/toddler groups either. Her DH doesn't help our either but he does have both of their children on his Own or take them out.

She is much more ruthless than me with clutter so things that I would always keep, like the kids art work for example, she throws away. They also have a bigger house so more storage but then bigger area to clean.

OP posts:
QuintessentialShadows · 11/10/2012 11:17

So in actual fact, he is lazy, cant pick up after himself (shaving, nail clippings), "high-jacks" your laundry with his, and quite frankly both dumb and manipulative as he wants to persuade you that he do his own washing when he knows that you know that this is not true based on both hanging and folding his clothes.

He cannot manage to handle his baby, cannot put her to sleep, or deal with her. He is incompetent on all domestic accounts, and is opting to put you down and belittle you and take on an air of superiority. What a piece of work...

He is very entitled, is he not? I am afraid you have married a spoilt man-child! A man like that would drive me absolutely nuts!