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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To say if you have a problem with my husband, you have a problem with me?

218 replies

PinkAndViolet · 28/03/2022 13:23

Mutual friend felt my husband was rude to her. She had looked after the kids for us and when reporting back bad behaviour, he said it didn't seem right what she was saying and she then said she felt attacked.
Anyway, she told me how bad she felt in a text and how upset she was with my husband. It's clear she now has a problem with him and I did think it wrong that she told me in detail about how she feels as felt like she is pitting us off against each other. Aibu to be annoyed and stick by my husband?

OP posts:
Changechangychange · 28/03/2022 13:43

It sounds like you friend is the one burning the bridges, if she says “all the trust is gone and there’s no way back from this”. She also sounds like a massive dram llama, unless your children did something horrendous, or you are leaving out a massive drip feed.

If you massively fall out with one half of a couple, you can’t really expect to maintain a close relationship with their spouse. It’s just not going to happen.

LagunaBubbles · 28/03/2022 13:46

Shes your friend, why shouldn't she tell you? Confused

Bushkin · 28/03/2022 13:46

Friend tells DH kids were badly behaved - he doesn’t believe/take her seriously

Friend tells you DH badly behaved- you don’t believe/take her seriously

Do you think maybe as a family you have an issue with receiving criticism?

luxxlisbon · 28/03/2022 13:47

To say if you have a problem with my husband, you have a problem with me?

Sounds unnecessarily antagonistic.

Why on earth would someone close enough to you that they babysit your kids lie about their behaviour? Your husband sounds naive and ungrateful, and you are worse by blaming this whole thing on your friend.

Marvellousmadness · 28/03/2022 13:48

Wow. You are willing to blow up your relationship with your friend. Over a text?
I love my dh to pieces. But he can be quite blunt sometimes. So I would first gather ALL info from everyone involved before id make any conclusions.

Maybe your kids usually ARE great. But maybe the were on their shittiest behaviour for your friend. Why would she lie?

Dont give up on a friendship just like that. It's not worth it .

Changechangychange · 28/03/2022 13:48

What you need to get your mind round is how your DH managed to cause friendship-ending levels of hurt in such a short space of time

Or alternatively, the friend thinks the children were unspeakably rude, then thought DH was unspeakably rude when she raised it with him, and now thinks OP is unspeakably rude when she hasn’t responded as the friend wanted her to, about being sent a massive tirade about her husband.

Maybe the friend is kind of a nut job?

LightDrizzle · 28/03/2022 13:49

I wasn’t there but my money is on your children having behaved awfully at your friend’s house (it happens sometimes, mum and dad aren’t around, it’s exciting, theyget wired and egg each other on) she feels she has to say something, which is so awkward, and gets “That’s not like them! What did they do?” at best, and delivered with a scowl. So many parents and the same and deluded about children’s ability to play up without being destined to be serial killers.

He should have apologised, expressed dismay and asked what they’d done.

What the fuck is in it for her to watch someone’s children and make shit up?

ladydimitrescu · 28/03/2022 13:49

@Bushkin

Friend tells DH kids were badly behaved - he doesn’t believe/take her seriously

Friend tells you DH badly behaved- you don’t believe/take her seriously

Do you think maybe as a family you have an issue with receiving criticism?

This
Chilledchablis1 · 28/03/2022 13:52

I think you might have a problem finding babysitters from now on .

Papayamya · 28/03/2022 13:55

Cripes this all sounds very dramatic. If my DH is an arse then he's an arse and I'm not sticking up for him just because he's annoyed someone, he's an adult and can do so himself. If someone was making shit up or was abusive towards him then of course I'd break ties, but they don't sound like someone I'd want to be friends with anyway. It seems unusual for her to feel so strongly about this, I would suspect there's more to it.

OverWorking9to5 · 28/03/2022 13:55

@axolotlfloof

Hmmm... Did she look after your kids for free, your children were badly behaved, and then your husband brushed it off and was ungrateful? If so he is being v unreasonable.
yupp, this.

She will never look after your children again and I wouldn't blame her.

PatchworkElmer · 28/03/2022 13:57

I’d be pretty annoyed if I did my friend a favour and then her husband questioned my judgement.

If you’re happy to leave your kids with her, you presumably think she’s reasonable and responsible? Then why did he question it?

dworky · 28/03/2022 13:57

Why, are you not separate people?

IncompleteSenten · 28/03/2022 13:57

Paraphrasing doesn't help people understand what happened.
His exact words matter.

friendlycat · 28/03/2022 13:58

It does seem as though both of you certainly don’t respond to criticism well.

And your opening title is daft as you are two separate people.

Summerfun54321 · 28/03/2022 14:00

*Friend tells DH kids were badly behaved - he doesn’t believe/take her seriously

Friend tells you DH badly behaved- you don’t believe/take her seriously

Do you think maybe as a family you have an issue with receiving criticism?*

Spot on. If my friend sent me that message I would give her a call. I wouldn’t “stand by my husband” like you were defending him in a criminal trial. You and your DH sound very defensive.

Mariposista · 28/03/2022 14:01

The fact she is telling you she is upset in a text rather than in person/over the phone shows how immature she is.

Justmuddlingalong · 28/03/2022 14:01

I think there's a very fine line between sticking by your DH, when others have criticised him, and isolating yourself from friends in order to defend him.

Cornettoninja · 28/03/2022 14:01

@Bushkin

Friend tells DH kids were badly behaved - he doesn’t believe/take her seriously

Friend tells you DH badly behaved- you don’t believe/take her seriously

Do you think maybe as a family you have an issue with receiving criticism?

I mean that can work the other way too, it’s perfectly possible that the friend has took offence over things that that are at worst ambiguous.

The fact that she’s reeled off a list of other failings she considers the DH to have tells me she’s been sitting on grievances for some time and has decided to let it all out now. If she’s been wound up for a long time her tolerance levels won’t be particularly high and her perception of these particular interactions could be off.

There is absolutely a type of person that collects any wrong doing in their head but won’t communicate it until they need to drive home an unrelated point in the future. It’s a really shitty way to behave, bring it up at the time and give people the opportunity to rectify/explain or let it go.

Changechangychange · 28/03/2022 14:02

Oh come on, nobody is going to respond well to being sent a screed about how awful their husband and children are!

Anyway if the friend has already cut contact with both of them, it sounds like this problem has solved itself regardless of who is at fault. Which is probably for the best, the pair of them sound like they rub each other up the wrong way.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 28/03/2022 14:02

You and DH are not the same person. You can have a different view, or stay out of their disagreement.

I’d probably have said something like “I’m so sorry you feel that way re DH. Obviously I wasn’t there and he’s given me his point of view. I can’t really comment on what he said when I wasn’t there, but just want to thank you again for looking after the children. It was very kind of you. I hope you and my DH can sort out your differences.”

SalsaLove · 28/03/2022 14:02

What is the OP supposed to do after their friend has “told on” her husband for not responding in a way she felt he should have? The OPs husband is an adult and perfectly capable of responding however he wants to. I’d bin the friend for trying to cause trouble in the family l

MichelleScarn · 28/03/2022 14:04

Whenever I read or hear someone going on that they'll 'stand by my man' I just get an earworm of the 4 Weddings rendition of the song!

Duracellbunnywannabe · 28/03/2022 14:04

Well as she has sent you a message saying she doesn’t want to be friends with you it doesn’t matter what you feel anyway.

Have either of you thanked her for baby sitting, apologised for your son’s behaviour and for the misunderstanding with her?

jacks11 · 28/03/2022 14:04

YABU, I think. It’s a bit of an odd attitude to take.

I think you and your husband are separate people who are only responsible for their own actions, not each other’s, and have independent thoughts, feelings and beliefs, (presumably). Therefore, it is the normal/right thing for you to be treated as individuals in situations such as this- if you had both said or done something, then the “problem” would be between your friend and both of you. She is not upset with you over the incident because you did not say whatever it was that upset her. That’s entirely rational and normal behaviour.

I can’t really say whether she is right to be upset by what your DH said, given the information you’ve given. I suspect you don’t really know either, as you weren’t there. Sometimes it’s not what is said, it’s the way it is said. Or your friend is over-reacting. Who knows which it is?

I do think if your friend has done you a favour and she’s reporting bad behaviour by your DC then the most sensible thing to say would be “sorry about that, I’ll speak to them about it”, or similar- she obviously felt it was significant enough to bring up with your DH when he collected the children. Even if it seemed out of character, I would have been sorry that my children had annoyed/upset my friend who was doing me a favour (even if I wasn’t sure what had happened/whether she was “right” to be annoyed), so I would have said something like “sorry about that”. You & DH could then have clarified from the DC’s perspective what has happened- and if you felt it was not important enough to require the DC to apologise or for them to be chastised then you would just have to recognise you and your friend have different expectations of behaviour and not ask her to look after the DC again/decline if she offers.

Telling her “it doesn’t sound right” is equivalent to suggesting your friend is making it up/over-reacting/got it wrong. As you hadn’t had the chance to even ask the DC about it (and I am always hesitant to take DC’s versions of events as gospel), you had no reason to doubt what she said. That is quite rude, especially when someone has done you a favour by looking after your DC.

I suspect she doesn’t want to discuss it with your DH as she is angry/upset with him abs she has spoken to you about it as she is your friend too. It’s not pitting you against your DH. It’s not binary- both of them can be right and wrong at the same time. For example, you can think your friend over-reacted to something your DH handled badly without having to pick sides. You can understand why your friend is upset- even if you don’t agree that what your DC was “wrong” and think DH was a bit careless/clumsy in his response without thinking your DH was deliberately being horrible.