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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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AIBU to leave my husband over his job?

1000 replies

Poptart22 · 20/05/2026 06:38

Am I being unreasonable to end my marriage because my husband won’t change his job?

DH works away constantly, sometimes 3/4 nights per week. We have a 3 year old toddler, 3 large rescue dogs and 2 cats. I work a very demanding job that includes 2 evenings per week. The impact him being away has on me is huge. I have to manage every early wake-up and refusal to sleep from our 3 year old alone, feed everyone, walk the dogs, manage all the daily household jobs and still be present at work. I am constantly overwhelmed, overstimulated and in survival mode and it massively impacts my mental health. I barely sleep when he’s away. Lately due to my working late done nights, my elderly parents have been forced to come over and help out at my husbands request, which puts a massive strain on them. My father has hip problems and struggles to walk but has had to walk our dogs and my mother has had to help bath my son. My mother still works herself and is exhausted. We do have a dog walker 3 mornings a week but this is expensive and we can’t afford it on the evenings too.

I have repeatedly asked him to consider changing jobs as his current role is putting me under so much pressure. He refuses and is adamant he won’t quit.

When he does return I’m so full of resentment I don’t want to be near him, then he gets upset.

We have had 3 sessions of couples therapy but it’s done nothing to address the resentment.

I feel so over it and like I don’t matter.

OP posts:
DeftGoldHedgehog · 20/05/2026 11:37

I have friends who did divorce over exactly this, but she acted before they had kids. They had been together 15 years from university. They got married and he promised to change his job and be around, but didn't, so she divorced him after a year as she could see the way it would go with kids and that he would just be leaving her to it. Now happily married to someone else, with two kids and her DH works from home and is very present as a husband and father.

Mere1 · 20/05/2026 11:38

Poptart22 · 20/05/2026 06:53

I would never rehome my pets, I adore them. We got them before he started this. The dogs get an abundance of love and are very happy. They get an hours walk in the morning and a half hour every evening without fail. I’m not someone who just gives up on animals. What an awful thing to say.

And yet you’d give up on your husband( rehouse him).

VeterinaryCareAssistant · 20/05/2026 11:38

Build5bear · 20/05/2026 07:19

It’s not dog haters, it’s being realistic as she can’t cope with all this.

Not having six kids because you can’t cope doesn’t mean you hate kids. Ridiculous.

But it’s horrible she is not putting her actual HUMAN child first. Break up the family unit and get rid of daddy over some mutts she can’t even cope with herself and forcing her elderly father to walk them and put himself at risk?

She’s the unreasonable one.

If she "gets rid of the mutts" even more resentment will simmer until she gets rid of "daddy" too, then she won't even have her precious dogs.

Maybe he should realise how much she loves the dogs and rearrange his work so he can be present and have the child more often.

BudgetBuster · 20/05/2026 11:38

Miraclemuma03 · 20/05/2026 11:36

Why is everyone coming at her for the damn dogs and not the husband for not pulling his weight. Where the hell are you womans priorities if you think the man in this relationship cant pitch in more and help because apparently the house hold is unmanageable. Do you think maybe it would be 100% more manageable if there were 2 people actually applying themselves in the household. My god people wake up. I could only imagine the relationships your in or willing to be in if this is all your responses.

Op my husband works 10 to 12hr days then most days has to do a 4hr round trip to and from work. We still have 8 kids living at home, I have 7 dogs, 9 cats and an assortment of animals, sort of like a miniture hobbie farm. Everything in the household I manage, all the kids, all the appointments, remembering everything, all the animals, school stuff, anything you can think of BUT!! And its a big BUT. My husband comes home from work and contributes and if home early enough or has a day off, he helps with the animals, does the cooking, house work, washing, folding, hangs with the kids, does pick up and drop offs to town for the kids jobs, does shopping, drives me around so Im passenger Princess. This is what a partnership is. Your husband is taking the piss, goes away work, gets a break, comes homes and doesnt contribute. Thats not a man that a man baby. It would be easier to be alone because he would then have to manage his job to have shared time with his child so you could manage a break. He is not making his family a priority what so ever snd if he became single and taking on responsibility for his child then his hands would be forced to make changes. On the other hand you run the risk of him not being involved in his child life and not making time to care for him but you would not live with constant let down, no reliability, resentment and anger and you make yourself and your son a priority.

Your husband is taking the piss, goes away work, gets a break, comes homes and doesnt contribute.

That's not even remotely accurate. Even the OP has stated that when he is home, he contributes fairly.

AMurderofMurderingCrows · 20/05/2026 11:39

ThejoyofNC · 20/05/2026 06:58

Stop complaining then

Why are you always so nasty. Are you so unhappy you need to leave shitty comments on mumsnet?

3luckystars · 20/05/2026 11:40

Yes. Even if she got rid of the dogs she would still resent the husband because he is not pulling his weight.

Im still wondering if he wanted all of this though?

Doesitneverend · 20/05/2026 11:40

anotheruser124 · 20/05/2026 11:18

We only have the OP to go on and can only advise on that basis, if we start rewriting things based on our own history and assumptions then it becomes impossible to advise, so I always work on advice based on the actual OP rather than trying to pick at parts of it. You can only advise on what you know but to advise based on parts of it being wrong or exaggerated gives so many different scenarios that it becomes pointless.

Whereas I prefer to ask questions and suggest people step back from their anger and look at the bigger picture and really consider whether they are being entirely fair in their interpretation. She is so angry and resentful of him, I see a high probability that she is not. It is rare that difficulties in a relationship can all be pinned on one person. The MN warcry of LTB is too easy to type and I tend not to see relationships as readily disposable.

loislovesstewie · 20/05/2026 11:41

I'm always confused by the 'mental load' aspect of paying bills. Setting up a direct debit takes a couple of minutes. Buying presents a small amount of time on the internet. What am I missing?
For reference I worked full time with 2 children. I did not find paying bills etc hard.

blackpooolrock · 20/05/2026 11:41

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followtheswallow · 20/05/2026 11:42

AMurderofMurderingCrows · 20/05/2026 11:39

Why are you always so nasty. Are you so unhappy you need to leave shitty comments on mumsnet?

Honestly, I’ve noticed as well

DressOrSkirt · 20/05/2026 11:43

BudgetBuster · 20/05/2026 11:28

But your suggesting rehoming your husband because he's sometimes not convenient to you 😂

A fully grown man should be able to look after himself better than dogs can

Needtosoundoffandbreathe · 20/05/2026 11:43

Simplify your life instead of blaming your husband. 3 large rescue dogs which need walking and company on top of having a pre-school age child and a demanding job is too much. Re-home the dogs is my advice.

Poptart22 · 20/05/2026 11:44

Needtosoundoffandbreathe · 20/05/2026 11:43

Simplify your life instead of blaming your husband. 3 large rescue dogs which need walking and company on top of having a pre-school age child and a demanding job is too much. Re-home the dogs is my advice.

Works perfectly fine when he’s not away

OP posts:
BridgetJonesV2 · 20/05/2026 11:44

No wonder you're resentful OP, he gets to walk out the door and leave any responsibility on your shoulders to burden while he stays in a nice hotel and gets waited on. Few women would tolerate this, and I'm annoyed reading these responses to tell you to rehome the dogs - not one person has suggesting rehoming your child, have they?! Dogs are just as much family as children in our house. Your relationship is unequal and it won't change.

You don't need approval to put a stop to it. As for him drafting in your parents, I'd divorce him for that alone.

Poptart22 · 20/05/2026 11:45

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And aren’t you a delight?!

OP posts:
Flamingojune · 20/05/2026 11:45

Happyjoe · 20/05/2026 11:29

Why do you say this? Why you being unkind? Willing not to see the real issue the OP is having? I mean, whats the point in writing on here if just to take the piss out someone? Are you really that unhappy in your life that you can only feel some sort of joy out of being shitty?

Edited

Its kinda true though

Flamingojune · 20/05/2026 11:46

Why not pay for help either with the house the kids or the dogs

JHound · 20/05/2026 11:47

Mere1 · 20/05/2026 11:38

And yet you’d give up on your husband( rehouse him).

But her dogs are not her partner and are not failing in their commitment to family life.

MajorProcrastination · 20/05/2026 11:47

Flamingojune · 20/05/2026 11:46

Why not pay for help either with the house the kids or the dogs

She's already said she can't afford a dog walker/sitter more than she already pays for.

Poptart22 · 20/05/2026 11:47

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Care to elaborate how I’m a nightmare? I keep the entire family running whilst he’s not around. A 3 year old takes an enormous amount of energy and dedication which I provide ALONE, on top of everything else! Believe me if I was a lazy mother, things would be so much easier. Keep your hated to yourself.

OP posts:
WonderingAboutBabies · 20/05/2026 11:48

It's either your DH or the dogs here.

Either you reduce the number of dogs or drop a walk (have one big walk instead of 2) per day.

Or you get a divorce and have the dogs full time and the child 50% of the time.

Endoadnowarrior · 20/05/2026 11:49

Ive said YABU because if the situation were reversed, everyone would be up in arms and saying how dare he dictate your job and career.

Depending on his line of work, it really may not be that simple for him to find something without travel, and he may be really happy in his current role.

The most obvious thing to do here surely, is to pare down the pets! 3 dogs seems an excessive amount of responsibility (and cost!), even if you were both working locally. Its a huge (and quite unreasonable) thing to be expecting elderly parents to do knowing they struggle with it.

Maybe just 1 dog would be more manageable, and use the money saved from food/vets/insurance/dog walker to outsource some of the household tasks e.g. cleaner, gardener or extra hours/childcare occasionally for your DC so you get some downtime.

My exh worked away for most of our marriage from when our kids were 2 and 4, and i have a lot of sympathy with you for how relentless and exhausting it is!
If things are really bad in the relationship, then of course divorce is an option, but you may well end up having to rehome the pets at that point anyway, so maybe try that first?

PurpleThistle7 · 20/05/2026 11:49

I still think you need a reset on all of this. Things change constantly in families and you need to adapt. You cannot rely on your elderly parents for regular childcare PLUS walking 3 massive dogs. That's just not fair. Your job is an equal problem here.

Given that your husband is away something like 1/3 of the time across a month but is fully involved during the time he is there 'and' he very much pays for your life 'and' you'd have far more work and less money without him then I still don't understand what solution you want. It's very, very shitty that he took a job without talking to you first but given your financial situation maybe he was just desperate to help. If you refuse to work more then what exactly is he meant to do?

BudgetBuster · 20/05/2026 11:49

Poptart22 · 20/05/2026 11:47

Care to elaborate how I’m a nightmare? I keep the entire family running whilst he’s not around. A 3 year old takes an enormous amount of energy and dedication which I provide ALONE, on top of everything else! Believe me if I was a lazy mother, things would be so much easier. Keep your hated to yourself.

ENTIRE FAMILY? You mean yourself and ime child who is in nursery or with your parents?

You are now making it sound like your DH is gone 24/7... but you earlier said he's gone 3/4 days SOMETIMES.

JHound · 20/05/2026 11:50

Honestly this sounds like yet ANOTHER man who wants a wife and kids but not to be a husband and father. I know many men (and women) who changed their job to be more present and engaged with family life.

He simply does not want to. If it works fine when he is around he really needs to look at being home more for his family. Leaving him may not change your workload but the resentment and mental pressure would vanish.

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