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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Stuck in the middle

39 replies

Patriciathestripper1 · 17/01/2026 16:35

my husband keeps picking on our daughter 19. He picks at things she does, criticises her and calls her fat. She has problems around food and watches what she eats as she puts on weight easily. He knows this yet he will call her piggy and tell her she has a pigs tail then say she can’t take a joke when she gets upset. This causes me to step in and tell him not to say things like that then he will a go at me for getting involved. There are only 3 of us at home and I tend to play peace keeper a lot. We have been together 25 plus years now and I feel as though for a lot of that I have basically tiptoed around him trying to make our family work. He seems to be getting harder to live with or perhaps I am just getting sick of it all. Aibu for stepping into arguments they have or should I take a step back and let them figure it out? I can’t stand the things he says to her and also me. My daughter says she basically hates him at this stage.

OP posts:
jdb9803 · 17/01/2026 18:02

You realise the reason your daughter has issues with food is her dad - her male role model - the man who is teaching her she is worthless and deserves to be abused. Reinforced by a mother who has stood back and let it happen.

Rhaidimiddim · 17/01/2026 18:04

So you've pandeted to his nastiness fir 25 years. Now he's turningbit on another adult female in his family, and you sre doubting yourself for sticking up for her?!

Time to choose, OP. Once your daughter is able to leave home she will - and won't willingly come back to see you if it means seeing him, too.

Jackiepumpkinhead · 17/01/2026 18:05

You’re not stuck in the middle! You should be protecting your daughter and telling that pig of a man to leave your house and never come back.

Topseyt123 · 17/01/2026 18:09

Dump him. He's a shit and is now abusing your daughter.

Why have you stayed with him and tried to make things work? They never will and I would bet that it is damaging your relationship with your DD. She must see you as particularly weak because you have taken so long to stand up to him, so now it is probably too little too late.

She hates him. Of course she does. He's a dreadful excuse for a husband and father. He's an abusive pillock.

5128gap · 17/01/2026 18:11

Given your history with him, it would be cards on the table time for me. "If you ever make a derogatory remark about our daughters weight again, I will be leaving you and taking her with me." And mean it. Because he is clearly not making you happy and is risking serious damage to your DDs self esteem, that could leave a life long legacy. Children of parents who treat them this way rarely energe without the scars.

Gahr · 17/01/2026 18:12

If you don't do a better job of defending her she will ditch both of you, and I wouldn't blame her. You should have left this arsehole years ago, I don't believe his behaviour is new. Honestly, you've probably already damaged your relationship with her by being too passive. However, that's by the by. It's what you do now that counts, and you need to either end the relationship or shut him down properly when he is abusive to her.

TeenLifeMum · 17/01/2026 18:14

What have I just read?! Why are you still with him? Do you really need strangers on the internet to tell you it’s not okay for your husband to call your dd piggy to get face?!

Endofyear · 17/01/2026 18:36

I couldn't be with someone who treated my child like that. Don't you hate his guts? He is a vile bully and your poor daughter has to live in a home with him abusing her. I don't know why you have put up with it for this long but please leave the bastard and I don't say that lightly. And apologise to your daughter for not doing it sooner!

Vaxtable · 17/01/2026 18:43

He is abusive

your poor daughter, leave

BlackCrowKing · 17/01/2026 21:07

You’ll have lost your daughter when she finally leaves home. There’s no way she’ll come back into that, nor should she. How on earth have you sat back and let this happen to your poor girl?

HellsBells13 · 17/01/2026 21:12

Could I just say this. As a young girl to my teens I was called fat by my sister and my parents ignored her taunts to me. As a result I have really poor body image and forever on the quest for skinniness. I wish either of my parents had stepped in but they didn't.

Thelnebriati · 17/01/2026 21:19

In this situation you aren't playing peacekeeper; a peacekeeper steps in between two warring parties and this is entirely one sided.
Your husband is bullying his daughter. He is her role model for future partners. You have to step in and do something effective.

ChurchWindows · 17/01/2026 21:46

inmyera · 17/01/2026 17:55

my dad used to call me a piggy and at 45 years of age, it still affects me. still have major issues with food and body image. he's a bully. I'd get rid!

I am sixty and can still hear my dad calling me dumpy.

This is not on OP.

Patriciathestripper1 · 17/02/2026 08:18

Thank you all for your words good and bad. Small update, since this incident he hasn’t spoke to either of us. I’m not going to update again but thank you all again.

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