Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

The mental load is for life, not just for Christmas!

101 replies

BillyWilliamTheThird · 23/12/2021 09:56

We’re a week into the holidays - it really doesn’t matter which holidays as it’s the same every time - and I’m already fully worn down by the mental load of doing all the thinking for everyone.

DH does do things, but only if asked. He has zero initiative. Every day he’ll ask me what we’re doing and what’s for dinner. Dishwasher, picking up clutter, laundry, kids getting clean; none of these things happen unless I specifically request them. Why am I the guardian of Getting Shit Done?

This isn’t a monster I’ve created and am only now complaining about having to live with either. I do not martyr myself on the pyre of family life. We discuss this regularly, I frequently down tools, and my default response is “I have no idea darling.” It’s not as though he doesn’t know how much it pisses me off. I’m also not a massive clean freak with high standards; I work twice the hours he does during term time (I’m a teacher, he’s a TA) so I don’t have time to be fussy about stuff.

For context he is mildly dyslexic and 100% uses this as an excuse for being disorganised. We have a house full of Alexas to set reminders on for this reason. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect a 45 year old man to think for himself but there has been very little progress on this in the two decades we have been together! Obviously his mother did everything for him. When we moved in together he didn’t know how to use a washing machine: she used to come and pick up his laundry from his flat on a Friday and deliver it back again on Sunday Shock

So the questions are (a) AIBU and should just learn to live with it?

Or (b) am I not BU, but in which case, how do I ‘fix’ this?

OP posts:
roseum · 24/12/2021 13:03

It’s hard taking all the mental load. And doing all the work too. We didn’t start that way, but DH got ME/CFS and can’t physically or mentally manage much before he has to go back to bed. I don’t have many tips, just muddling through. One thing that has helped is roping the DC in now they are older (7 and 9). So we do family tidy-up time on a weekend, to music. They help strip and make their beds, sort and put away their laundry, pair socks. One likes the vacuum-cleaner Hmm so will push that around. They will both help cook and wash up during the week. If your DC aren’t old enough for that, I used to have a cleaner who also folded and sorted laundry, saved me a lot of time.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page