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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Is my marriage doomed?

214 replies

honeysunday · 08/07/2026 11:28

I have been happily married for over 10 years but I’m starting to see that we just don’t want the same things.

I love beaches and water sports and the outdoors and he likes Xbox and television.
Up until now I’ve not really felt it mattered as I always enjoyed spending time with my mum who like me loves the outdoors, we would go for walk and chat while he played his Xbox.
I was a SAHM mum until recently so he was at work but I always took the children out, we are lucky enough to live in a seaside town and my mum would often join us and we spend hours at the beach or the park while he was working or gaming but I lost my mum this winter and I’ve really started to see that he just doesn’t want days out and although not his fault but he’s very pale and doesn’t enjoy being out in the sun so will not go on the beach, doesn’t enjoy walks as he’s overweight and gets hot, he also doesn’t come to the park because he thinks it’s boring and will just play games on his phone when we have days out.

Recenty he’s made more of an effort to have family days out which he says he enjoys but just can’t spend too much time somewhere, we will go somewhere nice and as soon as we arrive he will heading straight for somewhere to have lunch and after that have had enough in half an hour and want to go home and watch a film or something.
We took the kids out to go on their body boards and he gave them half and hour, and then 10 minutes in the park on the way home which was supposedly our day out before he said let’s go now and get McDonalds on the way home.
I am not blaming him, he’s just an not outdoors person but now I have lost my mum and I’m back at work, kids are at school, there is only the weekends but when I suggest I take the children out while he does his own thing, he says no I want to come and then it’s all over in an hour and the kids miss out as we have to go where I would have made a day of it.

OP posts:
DistanceCall · 08/07/2026 21:20

JaneEyresuglysister · 08/07/2026 21:11

I’m interested why you think that?

Because she's already been supporting him and treating him with kid gloves throughout their marriage and she's extremely unhappy and the children are suffering?

JaneEyresuglysister · 08/07/2026 21:23

DistanceCall · 08/07/2026 21:20

Because she's already been supporting him and treating him with kid gloves throughout their marriage and she's extremely unhappy and the children are suffering?

That’s a shame, I thought you had some actual evidence

DeeNiall · 08/07/2026 21:36

JaneEyresuglysister · 08/07/2026 21:23

That’s a shame, I thought you had some actual evidence

Give it a rest.

JaneEyresuglysister · 08/07/2026 21:38

DeeNiall · 08/07/2026 21:36

Give it a rest.

?

Marycontrarygarden · 08/07/2026 22:00

FinishedAtFifty · 08/07/2026 17:29

@Marycontrarygarden

I think many families are centred around the males agenda and managing the male mood. It was like that in my parents marriage and in mine. I divorced though lol.

I hope that things change but change seems to be happening very slowly.

It's 2026!!! Fuck the male mood.

NeatPinkFinch · 08/07/2026 22:11

JaneEyresuglysister · 08/07/2026 21:11

I’m interested why you think that?

Has he changed so far??? No. Change only comes about through necessity. A divorce (filing not threatening it) may do it. Or it may not.

CanadianJohn2 · 08/07/2026 22:15

JaneEyresuglysister · 08/07/2026 19:58

I really don’t think ultimatums work in this type of situation. He is more likely to change if she approaches it in a more caring way whilst still putting her perspective forward. He is more likely to change with her support than with a gun against his head.

It's not a question, as some have said, of treating him with kid gloves, it's more a case of pointing out your concerns, fairly strongly if necessary, and getting him to see he has to change. If you can't persuade him, maybe he will have to slob his way downwards. The question for you then, is do you want to watch him?

Sensiblesal · 08/07/2026 22:16

Your husband is prime example of why kids need screen limits!!

sorry for the loss of your mum, before she passed did he come on these days out? If he is doing it now, it may be that he is not all bad & is trying to make sure you have some company.

however, I think the last however many years have masked how different you are . Can you find common ground where it works like it used to & you just put up with him being the most rubbish dad

DistanceCall · 08/07/2026 23:37

JaneEyresuglysister · 08/07/2026 21:23

That’s a shame, I thought you had some actual evidence

He refuses to carry things when his family goes to the beach because "he gets hot".

What support should he be given, pray?

oviraptor21 · Yesterday 00:01

You are married to a gaming addict.
Very little you can do unless he recognises this.

How did you meet? What attracted you to him and him to you? Is there any chance of recapture that?

But on the whole, it does sound like youd be better off without him.

dh280125 · Yesterday 09:12

Couples therapy x Mounjaro.

He sounds like a pain, but you seem to want to work on it.
Learn to say no too, why is it up to him how long things last?

Swiftie1878 · Yesterday 11:56

JaneEyresuglysister · 08/07/2026 19:58

I really don’t think ultimatums work in this type of situation. He is more likely to change if she approaches it in a more caring way whilst still putting her perspective forward. He is more likely to change with her support than with a gun against his head.

Honestly, life’s too short. They’ve had conversations. He’s ‘tried’, then reverted to type after two days. She is not his mother, and she has to protect her kids from living with this nonsense.
He shapes up, or he shifts out.

Stationbike · Yesterday 12:08

I really feel for you and your children.
Be very careful that you don't end up as carer for a very selfish man.

Your children will judge the dynamic and be nowhere to be seen.

They will remember a childhood of a very lazy selfish fat gamer father, and a mother who tolerated it.

This will not get better.
Start quietly planning your exit.
He isn't going to change.

You deserve better.

Isometimeswonder · Yesterday 12:21

@honeysunday I was thinking there were compromises until you wrote about him not helping you carry things.
That is so selfish and underlines his whole mentality.
My husband is a bit lazy and I like being out and about... so we do our own thing sometimes and then compromise other times.

honeysunday · Yesterday 20:42

I’m sitting in the garden with my daughter as youngest 2 are in bed and he came out and moaned that he had been so busy he hasn’t even turned the Xbox on yet, I said you could just make a coffee and come and spend time with us and he said what’s that supposed to mean so I repeated it and he said oh so not only have I had all this to deal with but now I’ve got you telling me what to do. I said I’m not telling you what to, he said good and went in.

OP posts:
Shoxfordian · Yesterday 20:47

It seems like you're not compatible really, you don't like the same things so how do you expect to have a happy companionable marriage? He doesn't want to spend time with you

ThatCyanCat · Yesterday 20:47

honeysunday · Yesterday 20:42

I’m sitting in the garden with my daughter as youngest 2 are in bed and he came out and moaned that he had been so busy he hasn’t even turned the Xbox on yet, I said you could just make a coffee and come and spend time with us and he said what’s that supposed to mean so I repeated it and he said oh so not only have I had all this to deal with but now I’ve got you telling me what to do. I said I’m not telling you what to, he said good and went in.

What a knob.

Lmnop22 · Yesterday 20:54

honeysunday · 08/07/2026 13:15

Carrying things makes him hot.

What a total man child. Why are you making excuses for him like it’s perfectly reasonable for him to watch his partner struggle with ESSENTIALS she has packed for HIS kids whilst he carries nothing lest he get a little hot??

He needs to grow the fuck up and stop being such a self centred arsehole!!

Chilly80 · Yesterday 20:56

Twat

Topjoe19 · Yesterday 20:58

What a prick!!

Swiftie1878 · Yesterday 21:00

oh dear ☹️

Shoopshawady · Yesterday 21:03

How did you end up marrying such a loser? He sounds awful! Worse still have kids with him! He sounds like a crap husband and a worse dad. I’d have to leave!

Youllnevergetabetterbitofbutteronyourknife · Yesterday 21:05

@honeysunday what has he had to deal with exactly?

honeysunday · Yesterday 21:13

Youllnevergetabetterbitofbutteronyourknife · Yesterday 21:05

@honeysunday what has he had to deal with exactly?

Coming home from work, one year old wants his attention, the other two want to spend time with him, he calls this stress as he wants to sit down and relax and play Xbox

OP posts:
DaisyChain505 · Yesterday 21:16

honeysunday · Yesterday 21:13

Coming home from work, one year old wants his attention, the other two want to spend time with him, he calls this stress as he wants to sit down and relax and play Xbox

Edited

This is just fucking sad and quite frankly makes me feel sick to my stomach imagining my husband seeing our son as “something he’s had to deal with.” And that it has got in the way of his Xbox.

Your husband doesn’t know how lucky he is to have his family and he’s taking you all for granted. He is never going to change even if you asked him to, this is how he feels deep down.