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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU about DH's hobby?

32 replies

Dawevi · 22/11/2024 07:55

Ok vipers I know you all love a DH hobby one! Sense check me here please. Sorry it's quite long, I don't want to drip feed.

TLDR: DH does a martial art once a week all year round plus Sunday mornings and weekenders and is inflexible about it to the point it impacts on me, I'm already fed up, now he wants to do it on an additional night of the week as much as possible around my (less frequent) hobby. AIBU to have said no?

The full details:

DH does a (relatively unknown) martial art. He did it before we met but when we got married he stopped doing it because he moved to where I live and never sorted out joining a club. I researched for him and found him one locally but he never got in contact.

Fast forward about 12 years and hitting middle age spread and he finally went and joined. Great! I was happy he had a hobby (he doesn't really do anything other than work).

He goes once a week, and it's a day of the week where there are lots of things that I would like to do happening locally (it seems to be the night for all the local clubs and gatherings), so we discussed that sometimes it would be ok for me to do something on that night with enough notice.

However this hasn't happened because any time I say there's something on that evening I'd like to go to, no matter how much notice, he gets a right face on him and is all huffy about it, with lots of comments like "well you could go I guess but I'll be missing learning x element/seeing a travelling sensei/catching up with Dave etc." You get the idea.

So over the years I've learned not to bother trying to do something on that evening. The biggest impact of this on me has been that every couple of months I have to go to a meeting in the nearest big city (2 hours away) where I have some friends I don't often see.

I would have loved occasionally to stay on after the meeting and arrange to meet one of my friends for coffee or early dinner, but DH always says "will you be back in time for my club? What time will you get back? Which train will you get?" so I've not felt I could do that. This means there are some people I haven't seen for a very long time, who I could see if he wasn't so inflexible around his club.

You can already hear my resentment! The other thing is that the club is 52 weeks a year. It doesn't stop for school holidays. So I literally can never do anything on that evening.

Occasionally one of the kids will have something on that night and he expects me to juggle both of them rather than staying home to help, unless I specifically ask him to in which case he does, but with a moody attitude about it.

And then this week he came home from his club saying "I'm thinking of doing my club on a different night".

That night is a night when I go and practice with my band, it's once a fortnight maximum, and so I don't drip feed the band does paid gigs and so although it's a hobby it also brings in a bit of income (and at the very least it breaks even). We don't do many gigs though, maybe six a year. I do also go to a local open mic once a month with the band, but not every month (I haven't been since September for example).

I thought he meant he wanted to swap to that night, which was bad enough as it clashes with my hobby, but it turned out he wants to do his original night AND the extra night.

He also does his club on as many Sunday mornings as he can, and at least 3-4 weekenders a year and would like to do lots more, except I think it's unfair as I don't go away (we can't afford it for one thing) and he hardly spends any time with the kids as it is - at home he hides in his office even at weekends and we have to go and fish him out.

It goes without saying that I research and organise any and all family activities that we do.

We also have two SEN kids, one of which also has a long term health condition and needs care, so doing bedtimes solo is hard work and takes hours. We usually take one child each.

When I go to band practice he puts the youngest to bed but usually lets the eldest stay up so that affects her health condition for a few days afterwards.

So, he now has his arse in his hands over me saying I don't want him to do the extra night as well as the regular all year round night (and the Sundays and weekenders).

He was saying "but you do your band and your sport" but the sport I do is with the kids in the daytime and doesn't affect him at all.

(Plus, he can practice a lot of his sport at home, all the solo stuff, but mine and the kids we can't because it needs specialist equipment.)

So, AIBU to not want him to do the extra night? He would do it any time I wasn't at band practice so it could be more than once a fortnight of him going to his club on the extra night if we weren't practicing for a gig.

I just feel like it will then start to take over as being "his" night and he will get arsy and resentful of my band practices. Plus I feel like he over prioritises his hobby and is really inflexible around it so I don't want it taking any more of his time and headspace.

AIBU?

OP posts:
Dollshousedolly · 22/11/2024 07:58

Absolutely don’t agree to this. Unless your DH organises childcare, it’s not happening. End of.

WingSluts · 22/11/2024 08:01

Dollshousedolly · 22/11/2024 07:58

Absolutely don’t agree to this. Unless your DH organises childcare, it’s not happening. End of.

And he’s the fallback parent if that childcare option falls through on any given day.

Womblewife · 22/11/2024 08:02

Say no and mean it. He goes twice a week to his club if he is doing Sundays too. He is absolutely taking the pee. Say no and don’t back down no matter how huffy he gets.

AppleDumplings · 22/11/2024 08:05

You sound incredibly unselfish and generous with your understanding of his hobby. If it were me I would give him his 1 night a week, and keep this ring fenced as his. But everything else, to be frank, he can piss off. The problem is once you say yes to anything and anybody, you have set a precedence for them to further push the boundaries for their benefit. Go to your band practice and tell him you will be doing so. Catch up with your friends and stay after, and just tell him to get on with it. He's acting like a petulant little child so treat him as one.

BeasBees · 22/11/2024 08:05

Your husband is being unreasonably inflexible & selfish.

(And I say that as a parent with hobbies myself)

Confrontayshunme · 22/11/2024 08:06

I'm a MNer who never normally advocates the "burn it all down"/LTB route, but I would remind him that 50/50 custody with 2 SEN kids would really eat into his martial arts time.

Don't give him an ultimatum, just say "You get Sundays and Thursdays, and I get Tuesdays. If you want a different night, it needs to not be Tuesday and you need to skip 2 weekends a year."

A lot of neurospicy folks can get VERY caught up in their hobbies and they simply find it hard to be flexible about it, as it is SO important to them and gives them so much dopamine. With 2kids with SEN, that may the issue here, though I am not an armchair psych.

Catza · 22/11/2024 08:08

I would be inclined to say to him that he can absolutely do it IF he organises and pays for childcare on the days he is at the club.

I have a similar issue with my partner who travels for work at least one weekend a month. We don't have young kids and he does take his teen with him but I am then left as a dedicated dog carer (he had a dog before we met so it isn't "our" pet) and my social life is in the toilet as I can never leave the house for long enough. I had to spell it out for him and he arranged a dog sitter for three weekends in December so I can travel and see some friends before Christmas.

xILikeJamx · 22/11/2024 08:10

DH always says "will you be back in time for my club?"

"No, I won't."

Dawevi · 22/11/2024 08:57

AppleDumplings · 22/11/2024 08:05

You sound incredibly unselfish and generous with your understanding of his hobby. If it were me I would give him his 1 night a week, and keep this ring fenced as his. But everything else, to be frank, he can piss off. The problem is once you say yes to anything and anybody, you have set a precedence for them to further push the boundaries for their benefit. Go to your band practice and tell him you will be doing so. Catch up with your friends and stay after, and just tell him to get on with it. He's acting like a petulant little child so treat him as one.

The thing I'm sad about now is that I leave that role soon so won't be travelling into the big town for meetings any more, and it costs £50 on the train so I'm unlikely to do it without it being covered by work. So I've missed out for years on opportunities to see my friends because I respected his hobby night and now he wants to do even more that will impact on me!

We had a very robust conversation about it last night but he simply can't see he's doing anything wrong, he just said "fine well I won't be doing the extra night then" in a huffy voice and he can't see my point of view at all. He doesn't think he gets huffy.

OP posts:
Catza · 22/11/2024 09:03

Dawevi · 22/11/2024 08:57

The thing I'm sad about now is that I leave that role soon so won't be travelling into the big town for meetings any more, and it costs £50 on the train so I'm unlikely to do it without it being covered by work. So I've missed out for years on opportunities to see my friends because I respected his hobby night and now he wants to do even more that will impact on me!

We had a very robust conversation about it last night but he simply can't see he's doing anything wrong, he just said "fine well I won't be doing the extra night then" in a huffy voice and he can't see my point of view at all. He doesn't think he gets huffy.

Let him be huffy. It's not your job to manage his emotions. You need him to be at home so that you can have a life. And he said that he will be. So he will be a bit unhappy about it, so what? Neither of you are jumping with joy and I don't see how his happiness matters more than yours.

Daleksatemyshed · 22/11/2024 09:32

You've made a mistake Op by always rushing back for his hobby, he doesn't see it as a favour, he thinks his hobby is set in stone. With two DC with SEN he's lucky he gets Sunday and an evening already. Let him be in a huff, it only works if you feel guilty and give in

Onlycoffee · 22/11/2024 09:52

However this hasn't happened because any time I say there's something on that evening I'd like to go to, no matter how much notice, he gets a right face on him and is all huffy about it, with lots of comments like "well you could go I guess but I'll be missing learning x element/seeing a travelling sensei/catching up with Dave etc." You get the idea. @Dawevi

What would happen/have happened if you ignored his face and huffiness and did it anyway, as agreed?

He's manipulated you with the threat of kicking off and to keep the peace you've given in and given away so much.

It's time to resist and stand your ground.
Don't let him take any more from you. Let him huff and pull faces and learn that throwing a tantrum won't work on you anymore.

Obimumkinobi · 22/11/2024 10:08

"So over the years I've learned not to bother trying to do something on that evening"

That banging noise you heard back then was the sound of you making a rod for your own back.

Plus, any man that hides in his office at weekends to avoid spending time with his family, leaving it all to his wife, is an arshole. Pack his bag and let him "catch up with Dave" permanently!

pictoosh · 22/11/2024 10:17

He's being very selfish.

Janpoppy · 22/11/2024 10:29

He's being very unreasonable by using emotional manipulation/getting huffy and putting pressure on you to continually accomodate him. That is very unappealing behaviour and also very unfair. It has made the dynamic between you rather unequal in terms of your social lives, and the outcome of that his needs get met and are prioritised, and your social/leisure needs are disregarded and treated as second-class.

Earwigpig · 22/11/2024 10:29

DH and I each get two set nights a week for our respective hobbies, but DH has an additional thing that clashes with one of my evenings at least once a month. Our arrangement is that he sorts childcare on those occasions. It's kind of annoying to pay for the hobby and childcare on top of it, but we can afford it and it keeps everyone happy. Can you do something similar?

RunningJo · 22/11/2024 10:33

AppleDumplings · 22/11/2024 08:05

You sound incredibly unselfish and generous with your understanding of his hobby. If it were me I would give him his 1 night a week, and keep this ring fenced as his. But everything else, to be frank, he can piss off. The problem is once you say yes to anything and anybody, you have set a precedence for them to further push the boundaries for their benefit. Go to your band practice and tell him you will be doing so. Catch up with your friends and stay after, and just tell him to get on with it. He's acting like a petulant little child so treat him as one.

This 👆

Nothatgingerpirate · 22/11/2024 10:41

Your husband is a selfish twat.
If he wants to live a life of a single man, maybe he shouldn't be married.

JaydeeMai · 22/11/2024 11:20

The only issue I see here is the extra night he is trying to pick up. The rest of it, he's not unreasonable to have something he does on a set night each week. Like you with your once a fortnight band plus once a month open mic. I think resenting him for the current situation is wrong. But resenting him for trying to pick up another night is perfectly reasonable.

Can you get anyone to mind the kids on the occasions that you want to do something on the night that clashes? Being able to give yourselves a little flexibility?

Pleasegetchristmasoverwith · 22/11/2024 20:39

What an incredibly selfish man.
He thinks what he wants is more important than you.

LoremIpsumCici · 22/11/2024 20:46

My DH and I have hobbies on the same night of the week. So instead of bickering, we have a babysitter come. Sorted.

Weekends we cover for each other as they usually do not conflict.

Eenameenadeeka · 23/11/2024 06:58

I think he's unreasonable for wanting to pick up another night. I don't think he's unreasonable for wanting to go on the current night, when you are able to be back in time. It's annoying that other things are all on the same night though.

RachTheAlpaca · 26/11/2024 09:55

You're practically a single parent anyways by the sounds of it, I can't see a single positive thing about him on your post. You both sound really fed up of each other.
I'd tell him he's free to do his hobby as much as he likes, then start meeting with a solicitor to make plans to divorce/leave. If you split up, when exactly would he see the children? He doesn't seem interested at all.
Good luck

Candystore22 · 26/11/2024 10:08

I was going to say, you need a babysitter. But then I read about your SEN kids so I guess it might be hard finding a suitable babysitter?
Your husband is being a wanker prioritising his hobby over the entire family. I say entire family, because he’s not only making it hard for you to do something, but also placing childcare solely on you when he has his hobby. Could it be that he’s using his hobby as an excuse to get away from his dad responsibilities?
edit: After reading your update: could it be he is neurodivergent or something? He seems to lack empathy and understanding of the consequences of his actions on your life.

Ohwhatfuckeryitistoride · 26/11/2024 10:10

LoremIpsumCici · 22/11/2024 20:46

My DH and I have hobbies on the same night of the week. So instead of bickering, we have a babysitter come. Sorted.

Weekends we cover for each other as they usually do not conflict.

Did you miss the SEN kids and bedtime wrangling?

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