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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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To think it's much easier being a single parent??

289 replies

Deckmyballs · 09/11/2014 01:56

So I'm with DH of 5 years, together 10. We have 3 young DC. Neither parents able to do childcare. We haven't had a night out together in a year. And even then it was a 'must be home for midnight' affair.

I know people who are single parents. They have relationships. They share childcare between the dcs father/mother. They have regular moments alone or alone with their new partner.

AIBU to think it must be much easier to sustain a relationship outwith that with father of dc?

Fyi I am with DH father of dc but don't feel I know him or spend time with him at all. I feel like if I had a relationship elsewhere at least id actually have a relationship with them...

OP posts:
Yackity · 09/11/2014 16:05

I get what you're saying.

But the reality is you COULD go out with your DH, if you don't then its' because you don't have access to free babysitting and you think it's too expensive to hire a babysitter to do so.

But if you REALLY wanted to, you could. If that was all that mattered to you, downsize your house, and use the extra money for more leisure time.

What you forget, is the mere process of splitting up would mean that you were so much less financially stable. All of your assets would be divided in 2.

If your (potentially x)DH had shared care, you wouldn't be entitled to much, if any, maintenance.

So, YAY, you'd get free childcare, but you would have already paid through the absolute nose for it.

You sound a lot like one of my DSis, she bitter complained that our other DSis had it much better (both divorced), because DSis2's XH used to have the DC every second weekend. She completely ignored the fact that he was a drink driver and the police refused to accept her reporting of it (it had to come from a non related source), he was abusive, and left her in a deeply depressed state and paid a fraction in maintenance that he should have because he hid his earnings - let alone all of the other harassment that occurred for a period of 7 years until he finally stopped.

Whereas the complaining DSis's ex, although never had the children (he lived other side of the country) paid her maintenance regularly, paid extra for school fees, paid extra for clothing, often gave the DC additional money for camps, holidays, etc, but would only communicate with her via email (telephone with own DC).

Sure, the other DSis had free weekends, and she went out on them. Because otherwise she sat at home, driving herself out of her mind with worry.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side.

MunningCockery · 09/11/2014 16:08

Bless you for that Kewcumber Flowers The online and RL loveliness & kindness of most MN'ers never ceases to amaze me FlowersFlowersFlowers

Dayshiftdoris · 09/11/2014 16:13

I don't understand OP...

You reckon it's easier to be a single parent. People have clearly other a different perspective on this which you disagree with and insist your life is worse.

Yet you don't want to leave your husband you just want us to acknowledge that being married is worse than being single....
Well I can't do that and no one else because all situations / relationships are different.

You are displaying a considerable lack of empathy & lack of interest in the responses you have so I am unsure what you were aiming to achieve by posting. Perhaps you could enlighten us

Kewcumber · 09/11/2014 16:28

Munning - when i was seriously ill, it was other single parents who helped me most despite having the least time themselves. I think when you've been through it yourself you really do have more empathy... forged in the fire as it were!

It's not that my married friends didn't offer but they would make helpful solutions when I ran out of drugs in the evening of where the nearest 24hr chemist was... without grasping that with a young child in bed, popping out in the car to get anything wasn't really an option! They just hadn't thought through the practicalities.

D0oinMeCleanin · 09/11/2014 16:43

I'm fairly new to single parenting.

I have asthma which has been playing up something rotten lately. Last weekend I spent Saturday night sat in my front room waiting for it to become a decent time to call my mum to come and watch the kids while I went to the walk in for a nebuliser.

I wasn't bad enough for an ambulance, nor was I well enough to deal with dragging 2 kids out of bed and cajoling them into getting dressed (in the dark, all of our lights went last week and I had to wait for the LL to decide it was his problem not mine) so I just sat on my own, in the dark with that awful not quite being able to catch your breath feeling that any asthmatic will know.

Even though I'm ill the housework, cooking, bedtime routines, pet care etc is still all my responsibility. There is as much mess as there was when I was in a relationship, but only me to clean it.

But hey, ex has the kids once a week so I can have a night out. Makes it all well worth it Hmm normally I catch up on sleep or cleaning on those nights

GreenPetal94 · 09/11/2014 16:48

Pay a babysitter and get out of the house.

The advantages of husbands is they tend to be people you are in love with.

Edenviolet · 09/11/2014 17:02

I've been both and I have to say being a single parent was much, much harder in many ways but the thing I struggled with most was the loneliness. Nobody to share your day with or talk about the dcs, just not having someone there was horrible.

Failedspinster · 09/11/2014 17:16

OP, it sounds like you're frustrated and fed up, and I can understand that. I often wish I could spend a bit more time on my relationship, but the answer is a regular babysitter, not to think about who might have it easier - as they probably don't!

Every day I wonder how lone parents manage. I have a huge respect for them. I struggle to muddle through with DH, and can't imagine how tough it must be without another parent there.

OwlCapone · 09/11/2014 18:22

My observations come from knowing 4 people in split relationships who share child care

You know 4 people. Hahahahaha! 4? [wheeze]

Good lord...

OwlCapone · 09/11/2014 18:30

I can't even sustain a relationship with myself.

BogStandardOldWoman · 09/11/2014 20:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

summersover · 09/11/2014 20:27

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Smukogrig · 09/11/2014 22:09

I'm not a martyr, I'm happy.

Also, saying that women have a "responsibility" to have children with a good man, why make it women's responsibility? why is it not men's responsibility to be good fathers!? There was nothing stopping my x from being a good father. His failure not mine. I made a mistake thinking he was a good man but I did not make a mistake having children with him because as it turns out, we're all happy now. I'm not apologising for having had children with a man that wasn't up to fatherhood. I did it and although it hasn't always been easy I'm glad!

So, I'm not a martyr and I'm not apologising for my children any more than any happily married woman is going to apologise for hers.

WalkingInMemphis · 09/11/2014 23:16

Also, saying that women have a "responsibility" to have children with a good man, why make it women's responsibility?

If that's to me...I think what I actually said was regarding people not women. Women can be feckless, useless mothers too. My only point was that to an extent, we all have a responsibility as to who we decide to have a child with.

To flip it to another pov - I have a male friend who has a dd with his ex. Since they've split she has been a cunt of the highest order (and I've witnessed it, so i'm not just going off what he tells me). He's devoted to his DD but has no consistency, and his bitch of an ex allows and withdraws contact depending on what mood she's in. She is utterly spiteful, manipulative and controlling.

I spent a year (after they first became an item) listening to him moan/agonise over what to do about her. Listening to his stories about how (funnily enough) controlling and spiteful she could be. How unreasonable she was, and unpredictable. I spent a year telling him to get the fuck out basically, but he always dithered, always went back. Then they started trying for a baby which had disaster written all over it from the start. I tried my best to help, to stay supportive, but I did question him if he was sure (he thought she would change with a baby), tried to make him see sense and not rush. All the time they were TTC I was still his sounding board for when they'd had a massive row and she'd displayed her awful behaviour yet again.

Then they had a dd and split after about 8 months...and lo and behold, she's still acting like the same awful bitch she always did. And now all I hear is how he can't believe how she can be so callous, and is horrified about how she bargains using the dd and is manipulative - all the things he knew she was from the start.

I do have sympathy for him, because he's a genuinely lovely guy and is in a shit position now. But I do roll my eyes too, and have a somewhat limited patience after all this time in listening to him about it. I do feel that he has some portion of responsibility for the situation he is now in. He knew what she was like and still went on to have a dc with her.

I am not saying this is the case all the time, and that all single parents are single because of something like this ^ just to be clear. But it does happen, and trying to say it doesn't is just nonsense.

Ludoole · 10/11/2014 00:02

Its great being a single parent Hmm
I love juggling the kids, my alzheimers father, my struggling mother and my dp (who we shall be moving in with shortly but who is terminally ill)...
I love the fact nobody in our extended families gives a fuck.

I love that because there is no body to help
out my time with my children is very limited...
I love the pressure that is ripping me all different ways and spreading me so thin in all directions.

I love being a single parent... Angry

LeonardWentToTheOffice · 10/11/2014 00:03

yes you are

Eustasiavye · 10/11/2014 01:08

You need to work on your relationship and then decide if you want to separate.

Be aware that you might not get a reasonable ex, he might turn out to be a nasty piece of work.

Not all NPR pay maintenance or see the dcs.

Whatever you do talk to your partner.

Rosecottage888 · 10/11/2014 01:16

What a fucking stupid thing to say.

PiperIsOrangePumpkins · 10/11/2014 01:17

I couldn't imagine trying to parent without DH.

Dc sick in the night, I change the bedding and make sure the sick bowl is to hand while DH baths them to freshen them up.
DC are not doing well at school we discuss it.
DC are fighting arguing and playing me up all day, DH comes in and it's nice to have a hug and for him to say tomorrow is a new day.
Sharing sleepless nights with ds who has asd and being able to have the support off each other.

I wouldn't swap my life with a single parent as I would hate not to be able to hug and kiss my children every night before bed.

SallyMcgally · 10/11/2014 01:28

My DH has had some bad health problems this year and I've had to imagine how we might manage if he weren't there. The idea of not being able to turn to him when one of the boys is miserable, of assuming responsibility for their happiness singlehandedly is terrifying. This is without even thinking of the terribly difficult practicalities that other posters describe.
YABVU indeed.

superstarheartbreaker · 10/11/2014 03:54

Tbh it annoys me when parents moan about not being able to go out due to lack of childcare. So get a sitter.
Yes its expensive but if you want a social life its the only way to go. My nieghbours teen sots for me, friends sit for me. Be creatice, join a sitting circle.
It is so important to mental health to have a break.
Im a single mum and I cant pack dd off to her dad as he lives abroad but i do find my very limited funds to get out once in a while. Its so worth it.

superstarheartbreaker · 10/11/2014 03:55

Sorry ...typos. bloody phone.

superstarheartbreaker · 10/11/2014 04:07

How does being a single parent mean you cant kiss and hug your kids every night Piper? I dont get it. I kiss and hug dd all the time!

nooka · 10/11/2014 04:56

If you have shared care then your children won't be with you every night, so obviously you can't kiss them!

socially · 10/11/2014 05:31

The most idiotic OP I have read in a long time.

Christ MN is scraping the barrel at the moment....