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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Marital perspective

24 replies

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 15:28

DH works, I’m studying and training PT. I also run the home. Both kids ND and currently going through tribunal process with eldest. Both kids have their own unique needs and each day I’m managing this with either health app, school stuff or just supporting them. I also have a complex health condition meaning I am limited in what I can and can’t do. I feel alone in this. It feels that when DH home, he can just disengage, yet the hum drum of family life continues and the responsibilities that go with it, also continues. DH works, listens, brilliant at DIY, but he remains somewhat distant as far as planning anything or involving himself in the home. Do other mums feel like this? Got advice?

aibu - am I just being a wet lettuce?
ainbu - DH should step up more in the home - be more present

OP posts:
Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 15:31

I’m confused

so is the problem he doesn’t no housework and childcare?
or
that he doesn’t arrange stuff?

or both?

hydriotaphia · 05/06/2025 15:40

If it’s not working for you then it isn’t working for your marriage. Talk to him about what needs to change.

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 15:43

Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 15:31

I’m confused

so is the problem he doesn’t no housework and childcare?
or
that he doesn’t arrange stuff?

or both?

He’s just not emotionally present? When he is, it’s great, but most of the time he isn’t. It feels like whereas he can take a step away, as in disengage because he’s not at work, I can’t really disengage because things always need doing. He doesn’t seem to recognise this.

OP posts:
Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 15:45

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 15:43

He’s just not emotionally present? When he is, it’s great, but most of the time he isn’t. It feels like whereas he can take a step away, as in disengage because he’s not at work, I can’t really disengage because things always need doing. He doesn’t seem to recognise this.

What does “emotionally present” actually mean in practise op?

DaisyChain505 · 05/06/2025 15:45

Have you had an actual conversation and communicated your feelings and frustrations?

“DH, I’m feeling really unsupported with the general running of the house/children/healthcare and I would like things to change.”

You need a big family calendar up that’s visible to you both and also a whiteboard/chalkboard up with both of your names and a list of things you need to get done that day/week.

Delogate booking of dentist appointments, sorting birthday presents for birthdays, washing, dinner and so on.

Yes you may be able to do a smidge of a percentage more due to studying/training for less hours than he’s at work but it doesn’t give him a complete pass.

If you want something to change, use your voice and talk about it.

anitarielleliphe · 05/06/2025 15:57

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 15:28

DH works, I’m studying and training PT. I also run the home. Both kids ND and currently going through tribunal process with eldest. Both kids have their own unique needs and each day I’m managing this with either health app, school stuff or just supporting them. I also have a complex health condition meaning I am limited in what I can and can’t do. I feel alone in this. It feels that when DH home, he can just disengage, yet the hum drum of family life continues and the responsibilities that go with it, also continues. DH works, listens, brilliant at DIY, but he remains somewhat distant as far as planning anything or involving himself in the home. Do other mums feel like this? Got advice?

aibu - am I just being a wet lettuce?
ainbu - DH should step up more in the home - be more present

Because DH is the primary breadwinner and does so out of the home, you have fallen into the "default parent" trap in which you are the default parent. When he is home, the children still defer to you . . . and he defers to you. He fails to take the initiative to step in and help. He thinks "wrongly" due to ancient gender norms and societal viewpoints that this is his privilege because he financially supports the household.

However, he got the easy side of things. All he has to do is his job, and he is provided an interruption-free environment to do so.

You, on the other hand, are taking care of children and the home, in an environment that is ever-changing, not consistent, and requires constant attention . . . and all while doing so with a health condition AND while you are studying and training to build skills for a job to contribute income to your household.

Your situation is highly physically and emotionally draining as the default parent, and quite frankly, he is clueless to it, as this has always been assumed to be a "woman's work." But times are different, and should be. Children benefit far more from two active, engaged, patient parents that step in and parent and manage, than merely one parent.

Your entire day and night is spent being constantly reactive to the demands of children, which are unlike adult demands that typically are presented with some understanding of one's constraints to react immediately. You are in the trenches, making decisions without the benefit of sitting quietly in an office and given time to think about it. You are "reactive" 100% of the time. This is hard. This is emotionally exhausting.

Your husband will never understand this if he is not forced to live it. You can begin by explaining how it feels, but he must experience it, himself, in order to gain empathy and understanding. And watching the kids for a few hours a few times a week so that you can concentrate on studies or get out to recharge will NOT do it, especially if it is in the evening when they are tired out from the day's events and all he has to do is feed, bathe them and put them down.

My advice to you is to tell him that you are burned out as the default parent, and must take some time away from the home for yourself. This does not have to be anything expensive or elaborate.

Go visit a friend or family member a few hours train ride away. Take your stuff to study, but plan some fun activities too, and make sure that you are gone for at least 36 hours straight, forcing him to take care of the kids by himself.

And before you make these plans, explain to anyone that he might rely on that you trust (such as your parents or his) that you need him to do this on his own so that he gains empathy, so that he doesn't outsource his parenting to grandparents and fail to experience the pain.

In the future, every time he forgets this lesson, schedule another trip BECAUSE this will be the self-care you must implement as he is not meeting your needs and helping consistently with the children.

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 18:07

DaisyChain505 · 05/06/2025 15:45

Have you had an actual conversation and communicated your feelings and frustrations?

“DH, I’m feeling really unsupported with the general running of the house/children/healthcare and I would like things to change.”

You need a big family calendar up that’s visible to you both and also a whiteboard/chalkboard up with both of your names and a list of things you need to get done that day/week.

Delogate booking of dentist appointments, sorting birthday presents for birthdays, washing, dinner and so on.

Yes you may be able to do a smidge of a percentage more due to studying/training for less hours than he’s at work but it doesn’t give him a complete pass.

If you want something to change, use your voice and talk about it.

We have talked. We have the calendar. I even switched over to phone calendar as he said that would be easier for him. He still forgets, needs reminding, leaving me to sort and delegate stuff.

OP posts:
Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 18:09

Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 15:45

What does “emotionally present” actually mean in practise op?

Emotionally present as in engaged in actual conversation with me. Engaged with kids. Prepared to forgo his tv programmes as kids up and don’t want to watch his stuff. It feels like I’m more primed to be kid responsive, whereas he remains somewhat elusive for the need of child appropriate tv programmes or planning proper food.

OP posts:
Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 18:13

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 18:07

We have talked. We have the calendar. I even switched over to phone calendar as he said that would be easier for him. He still forgets, needs reminding, leaving me to sort and delegate stuff.

So it’s not just “emotionally distant”

He isn’t helping around the house and isn’t organising anything?

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 18:13

So tonight, i had online training. He came home early and slept. Woke later than he planned meaning no food cooked, despite me already getting out the chicken - he just needs to cook it and add sauce. Instead, he’s taking the kids out to eat. When he has to sort the kids dinner - he rarely cooks.

OP posts:
Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 18:14

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 18:09

Emotionally present as in engaged in actual conversation with me. Engaged with kids. Prepared to forgo his tv programmes as kids up and don’t want to watch his stuff. It feels like I’m more primed to be kid responsive, whereas he remains somewhat elusive for the need of child appropriate tv programmes or planning proper food.

So it’s two separate issues

  1. hes not pulling his weight
  2. he’s not interested in engaging with his family
that is quite a toxic combo

How long has he been like this?

Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 18:15

Although the two examples of him not waning to watch kids programmes or planning proper food… I mean, that doesn’t strike me as the end of the world

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 18:16

Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 18:13

So it’s not just “emotionally distant”

He isn’t helping around the house and isn’t organising anything?

He does bare minimum around the house. Rarely initiates. It’s like his work and sports kit he just expects to be there, he never plans for it, makes sure it’s in the conveyor belt of washing and ready in time - I do that. I do this as because without he gets grumpy. So more distant.

OP posts:
Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 18:17

Op it’s so much more than l”emotionally distant”

in this case, that’s just psycho babble for a man who seems a bit lazy and useless around the house, and doesn’t really want to be flexible when it comes to the children.

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 18:18

Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 18:15

Although the two examples of him not waning to watch kids programmes or planning proper food… I mean, that doesn’t strike me as the end of the world

No, not end of the world. But as the youngest has a particular fear at the moment he will then choose a programme which has it in. Then the rating out, he has a health condition which means it’s not good for him, but he’ll do it anyway.

OP posts:
Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 18:20

@Clickjawits his normal. He frequently has to have activities that maintain some degree of positive mental health, I facilitate this, because the alternative is he just becomes more disengaged, from us, from work, from
himself.

OP posts:
Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 18:21

All sounds a bit unhappy op, both of you.

stayathomer · 05/06/2025 18:21

anitarielleliphe

your thought process is impeccable!!!👏👏👏👏(standing ovation!!)

anitarielleliphe · 05/06/2025 20:34

Clickjaw · 05/06/2025 18:15

Although the two examples of him not waning to watch kids programmes or planning proper food… I mean, that doesn’t strike me as the end of the world

The two examples are provided as just that, but imagine it is the same sort of thing on repeat . . . every day. While certainly, war, catastrophe, and famine rank closer to "end of the world" things . . . the behavior he is exhibiting is definitely de@th to the relationship by a litany of small cuts.

whistlesandbells · 05/06/2025 20:53

Are you tired? Maybe he is tired and this is how he processes. The only thing you can do is you. Drop the rope. Kids need something .. send them to him. Preserve your own space and time. See how he does it …do the same. This is gender equality.

whistlesandbells · 05/06/2025 20:57

Sparklybutold · 05/06/2025 18:20

@Clickjawits his normal. He frequently has to have activities that maintain some degree of positive mental health, I facilitate this, because the alternative is he just becomes more disengaged, from us, from work, from
himself.

Just seen this. So you’re also his nanny… pathway to emancipation for women is when we finally turn round and say to men “nobody gives a toss about your wellbeing… grind on…. Keep going…”

Shape up or fuck off… 🤷‍♀️ then we have equality.

Fingerpie · 06/06/2025 15:04

This sounds like an unhappy marriage more than anything else…. On both sides

TwinklyMintHelper · 06/06/2025 22:10

Emotionally Immature!

Passtheduchess · 06/06/2025 22:18

I had a DH like this. Thought that because he worked 5 days a week everything else was my responsibility. I left him, after years of trying to work a compromise and begging to have some balance.
Life is so much easier and happier now, even though I am scraping by financially whilst he enjoys the huge salary that came with years of having free childcare and a housekeeper/PA/chef/etc.
If he won’t can’t change, or go for couples counselling, I’d opt out personally.

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