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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Was this completely inappropriate and am I right to be so upset over this?

141 replies

Lookingforadvice36767 · 10/10/2021 17:30

So long story short, my ex sometimes comes to my house to see our children because he has no where to take them, it’s too cold to stay outside, etc (I don’t want to turn the whole thread into contact arrangements either - just on the post below)

Now when ex is here (we’ve never lived together in my current house) he often falls asleep on my sofa, goes and gets a pillow and duvet to chill out with on the sofa, helps himself in the cupboards when the kids want something rather than asks me and generally is a bit too comfy here rather than acting like a guest with boundaries!

However last weekend really upset me - he actually got into my bed with the kids and was laying in there for ages despite me asking a couple of times to get off.

My bed is my personal space, and I physically had to change the sheets afterwards because I felt so uncomfortable sleeping in my bed after he had been in it - I felt violated and disrespected that he thought that was acceptable - I would never dream of getting into someone else’s bed without permission let alone my ex’s!

I mentioned it to him and he thinks I’m over reacting.

Am I?

(I don’t have a partner and he does, just incase anyone asks!)

OP posts:
rainbowstardrops · 11/10/2021 13:49

He's completely overstepping the mark and you need to knock it on the head right now!
He's treating your home as his territory and it 100% isn't.
Stop it and be firm.

EdgeOfTheSky · 11/10/2021 13:53

You are not over reacting, but so what if you were?
It isn’t his place to decide what you are comfortable with in your own home. It isn’t his business.

Not your responsibility to solve his problems either but there have been plenty of suggestions for places he could take them, if he has no parents or siblings that can help him.

As he is using the excuse of too wet / cold this issue will only get worse as winter approaches so deal with it now, no messing, no concessions.

SeaToSki · 11/10/2021 14:00

Does he pay you any child maintenance?

PrincessNutella · 11/10/2021 14:37

"He thinks I'm overreacting."

No. Just no. You are telling him important information and he is not listening.

PrincessNutella · 11/10/2021 14:39

You should be able to relax in your own home when he sees the children.

MRex · 11/10/2021 14:45

Contact in your house will have to stop unfortunately, because he's taking each "no" as an invitation to go further. You're getting uncomfortable because he is deliberately crossing boundaries and that's where it gets dangerous for you. He can take them to the shops, soft play, museum, farm, his mum's, cinema, bowling, trampolining, long walks in wellies and anorak plus pub lunch, whatever - but it's safer if he's not to enter your home again. It might help to have a solicitor write the letter if you can afford it, so that he understands he can't just shoulder his way in next week.

TheFoundations · 11/10/2021 14:53

@EdgeOfTheSky

You are not over reacting, but so what if you were? It isn’t his place to decide what you are comfortable with in your own home. It isn’t his business.

Not your responsibility to solve his problems either but there have been plenty of suggestions for places he could take them, if he has no parents or siblings that can help him.

As he is using the excuse of too wet / cold this issue will only get worse as winter approaches so deal with it now, no messing, no concessions.

Quite. There are no rules about how 'reactive' we should be. So if someone says you are 'over' reacting, what they're saying is 'You are reacting too much for me'

Same with 'oversensitive': 'You are being more sensitive than I would like you to be'.

He doesn't get to decide what your responses to things should be. You are precisely and exactly the right level of sensitive for you. You are exactly rective enough for you. Anybody who doesn't like it can choose to be somewhere else.

Dobbyismyabsolutefav · 11/10/2021 14:55

I'm with @FredWinnie it's almost as if he is marking his territory. Time to make other arrangements or at the very least put a lock on your bedroom door.

DysmalRadius · 11/10/2021 14:59

@JovialNickname

Unfortunately this comes under the heading of "I let him do this and now he's done it he's the bastard". You said he could come into the house! You wanted him to be comfortable with the children. Sorry but I don't think you can now bitch and whine because he took you literally (and no doubt pushed the boundaries a bit).

Don't let him in your house, or failing that, upstairs. Do you know why you don't find people you don't know sleeping in your bed? Because you don't let them In!

Letting someone into your house to facilitate contact with their children doesn't give them a green light to get into your bed! The OP absolutely can 'bich and whine' about this because her ex is being a total dick about respecting her space and is deliberately trampling on her boundaries to exert control.
Appleofmyeye05 · 11/10/2021 15:04

Not over reacting at all!

I would also be telling him if he carries in overstepping the mark then he will have to find somewhere else to see the kids.

That being said, couldn’t he take them to a play gym for a few hours?

If it was my ex doing that I don’t think I’d be able to hold my tongue.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 11/10/2021 15:13

Definitely inappropriate and definitely not over reacting!

My exh is a pain like this, and he has a perfectly good home (just comes in if the kids want him to on pick ups). Going through the cupboards etc - he gets pulled up of course but ffs!

Before we properly separated- ie when I was still in the old family home while divorce went through he would come to see them and then fall asleep on the sofa. I mean wtf!

GetMeOut22 · 11/10/2021 15:27

He IS being controlling and manipulative. What a horrible creature he is. You need to stop contact at your house. He cannot set foot in your house anymore, ever. It's not normal. He can take them to the park, to the library, that's his problem to solve not yours.

ErrmWTAF · 11/10/2021 15:34

Your house, your rules. Ban him.

After an initial short explanation (a couple of PPs got it spot on), if he tries to argue it, employ the "broken record". Boil down your initial message to as short a sentence as possible (for instance "yours not welcome in my home"), then repeat it until it sinks in.

Or, try the immortal words of Captain Malcolm Reynolds: "why are you discussing what's already been decided?"

Baddit · 11/10/2021 15:56

If you're not good at enforcing boundaries I find it can help to pretend to yourself that you do have a boyfriend and he lives with you. In that case would your imaginary boyfriend mind your Ex kipping on the sofa or crawling into your bed? Yeah, thought so. His contact, his problem.

Frazzledmummy123 · 11/10/2021 16:40

@NoSquirrels

And if he’s regularly falling asleep on your sofa during contact time then it’s hardly quality kid-focused parenting, is it?
100% this!
FairFuming · 11/10/2021 16:57

My ex did this. He got wind that I was about to stop it and insist that wewent to his house so he stopped contact and started spreading nasty lies.
The one thing I said I didnt want him in my bedroom and he broke that boundary every bloody chance he got.
He also spent the whole time following me around talking at me rather then playing with the kids and got grumpy when I refused to cook for him or asked him to change nappies or bath the kids.

When he decided to start acting like nothing happened and try to weasel back in it will be through a contact centre only (he only got supervised contact).

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