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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to not want to be faced with 'what did you do all day?' every day

327 replies

Iamatotalandutteridiot · 01/09/2015 19:17

just faced it again tonight

He is currently cleaning the glass 'because it is streaky' (Note: no finger prints, so I have obviously cleaned it... just streaky)

I have entertained 3 kids today - on the last week of their holidays. I have sorted uniform, made sure everything is name tagged, I have fed them, I have read to them, I have bathed them.

SOOOO sick of having to justify how I spend each minute when I have kids at home.

OP posts:
xxyummymummy28xx · 02/09/2015 14:05

I wasn't suggesting she grin and bear it because they're married. I was asking the OP if the situation was really as bad as you are all making out and whether it was a situation that could be fixed/improved upon? I wasn't looking to get into a spat either and don't feel my original comment warranted your obviously nasty comment

YouTheCat · 02/09/2015 14:10

She's not allowed to go out with out being accused of having an affair. She's not allowed to join go to exercise classes.

What in those statements sounds like it's just a temporary situation that she can work on? Confused

Anyway, I thought you were going to Nethuns?

xxyummymummy28xx · 02/09/2015 14:16

Just trying to work out how to deactivate my account n keep getting drawn back in. Nothing more ugly than women tearing each other down for no reason at all

m0therofdragons · 02/09/2015 14:17

Wow why do people marry people like this? Today dc are for the first time all at school. I'm in a cafe drinking coffee doing fuck all house work. Dh is perfectly aware of my plans for today and his parting words to me as he left for work were "have fun". This is because he l likes me and after 4 years raising twins and an older one he's perfectly happy for the hoovering to wait. You are not this man's child or employee. You are equal adults in a relationship.
When I was a sahm dh and I spoke about the balance of jobs. Dh viewed it that he went to his job and my job was raising the dc when he wasn't there then it was a joint role when he was there. Cleaning was shared. I would not live with a man who didn't value me.

YouTheCat · 02/09/2015 14:18

I'm not tearing you down. I just happen to disagree with you. Is that not allowed?

EponasWildDaughter · 02/09/2015 14:32

nothing more ugly than women tearing each other down

From the poster who called us all ''old bra burners''.
Hmm

mathanxiety · 02/09/2015 15:13

People marry people like this because they are not like this to begin with. Abusers suck you in and look fairly normal to begin with. They can even be very seductive and charming -- as the OP reports, her H is different with other people, people he is seeking to impress. I would guess he is mostly all sweetness and light at his place of work.

Once the victim is trapped, abuse starts in small ways that are hard to pin down or name, a variety of little things that chip away at your confidence until you are a mess. Abusers also engage in a pattern where they will offer a compliment occasionally, a crumb from the table, which has the effect of keeping you trying to please in order to elicit another compliment or a smile, etc., until you find yourself in it up to the neck, as the OP is, and thinking she has no choice but to keep on trying to improve everything.

'It's not true that he wouldn't be happier if I was better at doing housework.
There are days I know I should clean and I just don't.'

Sweetheart, he sincerely doesn't care. He is not your employer. You are not accountable to him for how the house is kept. It is your home and you can decide if you want to clean it or not, and you get to set the standard of clean to which you aspire, and decide how to achieve that. There is no day when you 'should' clean unless you feel the house could use a once over.

If he wanted a clean house he would hire a cleaner. This is what people do when they are not really happy about how clean their house is. They decide what they value and they work to achieve that.

What he wants is the knowledge that you are trying to keep the house clean in order to present the fruit of your work to him every day, and the knowledge that you accept that you owe him an account of how you spent your day, aka the knowledge that you are under his thumb. You clean the windows and he finds streaks to point out to you. Excellent.

onecurrantbun1 · 02/09/2015 15:26

I am so sorry that you are going through this OP. Sometimes having someone else (or lots of others) point out that something isn't normal can be a great source of empowerment and a catalyst for change. Sometimes it can be very hard to accept. You clearly have a long history with this man and his nastiness is probably an insidious creeping trait which has got worse over the years. Don't give it another year to get even worse.

FWIW I started this thread ready to reply with "talk to him", have graduated through "counselling" and I now think you have no choice by to end things. Like yummymummy I do believe marriage is for life and shouldn't be given up on lightly - but if one person breaks their vows - be that by being unfaithful or lying or repeatedly showing disrespect -that there are some things which can't be worked on.

Stormtreader · 02/09/2015 15:56

The fact that he gets to veto the exercise class, or whatever else you might want to do, is the biggest red flag for me in all of this.
You have needs and rights as a person, you are not just a faceless shape occupying the jobs of "child-minder, cleaner, cook..."

pictish · 02/09/2015 16:30

I agree Storm. Bitching about streaks on the window is rude, critical and peevish. It's bad form. He's an arse.
I can hold my hands up and confess to the odd bout of rampant arseholery myself in my time as a wife.

To grudge (and ultimately curtail) the OP's autonomy by denying her access to hobbies, limiting her freedom of choice, commandeering her money and accusing her of infidelity, is controlling. And that's plain abuse. He's a cunt.
I have never done any of those things to my husband. Haven't even been in the crowd at the ball park.
Those things are never ok.

pictish · 02/09/2015 16:35

Just the very idea of having to explain what you've done with your day when King Dick rocks up after work.
Ding goes my bell.
This is not a man I could care for.

Iamatotalandutteridiot · 02/09/2015 16:50

I do know it's not OK.

I had to demand (and this took some doing on my part) some room in the wardrobe for my clothes.

Yes, seriously, all the wardrobe space is taken up with his clothes. Mine live by the side of DDs bed. I know how shit that sounds. He won't allow me to get another wardrobe.

ANyway, I demanded some space. Not going to say he was happy, but I did get it.

Writing it down helps see just how obscure this is.

OP posts:
Aqualady · 02/09/2015 16:53

Hmmmm...

Iamatotalandutteridiot · 02/09/2015 16:56

aqua - What????

OP posts:
ENtertainmentAppreciated · 02/09/2015 17:08

OP what are you hoping to get out of this thread other than a place to tell all the many ways in which your husband abuses you?

HazleNutt · 02/09/2015 18:27

what do you mean "won't allow"? He has all the money, no joint finances or cash or your own? If you have the money, just go buy a wardrobe.

LindyHemming · 02/09/2015 18:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

NerrSnerr · 02/09/2015 18:40

Is this really the lifestyle you want to maintain? Not allowed to buy a wardrobe? Do you have access to money? Please spend some time thinking about this OP- I'm sorry to keep going on about your children but please think about the impact all this will have on them. This is no way to live, not at all.

yummytummy · 02/09/2015 19:38

Its not as simple as oh just go buy a wardrobe. Even if op has access to money which is also probably very tightly controlled he has said she can't. Even if she did then more than likely the consequences of bringing home that wardrobe would be so unpleasant it just wouldn't be worth it. Its hard to explain but the level of control of these men just through fear is immense. And this is all before it has progressed to anything physical. Op i know its a nasty shock especially when people are so quick to say just leave. The first stage is realising from outside responses that yes actually this situation is really bad and you shouldn't have to live like this. Good luck op

Iamatotalandutteridiot · 02/09/2015 19:47

What am hoping to get out of it? Mainly... by saying it out loud, makes me realise how mental it is.

Im not going to leave, but I do want to at least to redress some of the balance. So, I guess, I want to wake up to the fact that I allow this to happen and consider it normal and I want validation that it's OK to not accept this.

As for not buying a wardrobe. No, I am not allowed. End of. I have access to cash, but I've been told no, I can't get one and if I went ahead... it would be very difficult.

SOmetimes, perhaps it's easier to ask for forgiveness than permission... ut having asked and been told no... why would I then go ahead and do the opposite? that makes no sense.

But, mostly, I want to think about what most people consider normal in a relationship... because I think mine is a little odd x

OP posts:
YouTheCat · 02/09/2015 20:01

But what right has he to tell you that you can't have a wardrobe? None at all.

What do you need to ask forgiveness for? You haven't done anything wrong.

Keep your options open if you don't feel able to leave yet.

Fairenuff · 02/09/2015 20:05

You won't 'redress the balance' OP. That will never happen. Ever.

You are either in this awful situation or out of it. You cannot and will not change him.

He is abusive. He will continue to be abusive.

You think you have won a small victory by getting a little bit of wardrobe space? I think that is one of the saddest things I have ever read on mn.

Iamatotalandutteridiot · 02/09/2015 20:07

Youthecat - I recently went away for a couple of days (to my mums house, with the kids) our new kitten weed on the sofa and he made me get rid of the sofa.

Seriously, if he says no.... he means no.

OP posts:
sofato5miles · 02/09/2015 20:09

If you sat no, mean no.

sofato5miles · 02/09/2015 20:09

Say. Gas.

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