Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to think his solo holiday plans are selfish?

218 replies

Sam17062002 · 20/08/2026 23:41

For some background context, I have taken mine and my partners children on holiday twice. Once last year for a week and once this year for 10 nights. Both times my partner has opted out in coming due to personal extended family issues.
now my partner has decided he wants to go away in October for a week on his own to “somewhere with a sunbed where he can do nothing” am I being unreasonable in thinking this is selfish? Me and my partner have already been away for a weekend without the children and he has actually never been away with the kids.
I know I probably haven’t explained this the best but I am feeling annoyed that he thinks it’s acceptable to go away without even considering me or the kids

OP posts:
Sam17062002 · Today 14:09

@Homemerge his mum has our 2 kids and my mum has my eldest to correct myself

OP posts:
Homemerge · Today 14:10

Sam17062002 · Today 14:08

@Homemergehit the nail on the head there unfortunately, finished it many times and then the cycle continues at some point due to hopes and expectations of things changing.

Ok… so 🤷‍♀️
Your life Op. the sad thing is.. your kids will think this is normal.
I suppose he is at least useful insofar as his mother is willing to care for the children, including one that isn’t her son’s, for 12 hour shifts

Tabbitha · Today 14:15

Sam17062002 · Yesterday 06:05

@NoCommentingFromNowOn we have two biological children together and he has been in my eldest daughters life since she was 1, they are all biologically mine

So the youngest are all his ! Jesus stop drip feeding!

Sam17062002 · Today 14:21

@Tabbitha how about you don’t comment if you haven’t got anything nice to say? Jheez no wonder loads of people complain about this website

OP posts:
Homemerge · Today 14:21

Tabbitha · Today 14:15

So the youngest are all his ! Jesus stop drip feeding!

Latest drip is apparently Op did finish it last night!

Sam17062002 · Today 14:22

it’s my first fucking time using app fucking hell

OP posts:
Justonemorething82 · Today 14:25

You’ve done the right thing. You’re too young for this nonsense. This is an unfortunate life lesson so learn from it and don’t take him back. You’re worth much more.

PotatoLove · Today 14:25

Good for you, OP.

You deserve so much better than him.

QuietComet · Today 14:36

Sam17062002 · Today 14:22

it’s my first fucking time using app fucking hell

Ignore them, I very much doubt that any of those having a go at you would have their heads together enough and be eloquent enough to give all the information in one post. Even the news of ending it, as I'd probably be looking for people's reactions to justify / make me question my decision.

I'm so glad to hear that you finished it, and if you take anything away from this post, it's that he's no good for you and you need to make this change permanent. Your children will be far better off this way too, if anything, do it for them. Two happy and separate parents are better than one unhappy, volatile and unpredictable family x

TakeMeDancing · Today 15:08

Sam17062002 · Today 12:46

@QuietCometi used to truly believe things would change, that he would be more affectionate, more attentive like he was when we first got together but the constant cycle is ( he moves out, we don’t speak for a few weeks, he tells me that he things need to change and I agree because both of us play a part, he comes back home and everything’s okay for two weeks and then we start living like roommates/ Co parents
it’s my own fault, I keep holding on to what things were like when we got together

You’re not in a relationship with the man you met 5 years ago—you’re in a relationship with the man he is TODAY. Your decisions need to be based on this fact.

Clemmie92 · Today 15:36

ToKittyornottoKitty · 20/08/2026 23:52

You must have missed something out though. How can ‘personal extended family issues’ stop him traveling with his kids, but not alone or with his partner?

Exactly what I thought, it’s rubbish, he just didn’t want to go away.

Clemmie92 · Today 15:37

Sam17062002 · 20/08/2026 23:41

For some background context, I have taken mine and my partners children on holiday twice. Once last year for a week and once this year for 10 nights. Both times my partner has opted out in coming due to personal extended family issues.
now my partner has decided he wants to go away in October for a week on his own to “somewhere with a sunbed where he can do nothing” am I being unreasonable in thinking this is selfish? Me and my partner have already been away for a weekend without the children and he has actually never been away with the kids.
I know I probably haven’t explained this the best but I am feeling annoyed that he thinks it’s acceptable to go away without even considering me or the kids

He doesn’t see you as a partner. It’s really as simple as that. You are just a convenience and will parent children.

DurinsBane · Today 15:53

Tabbitha · Today 14:04

I will 'bear' with you here. Look, you are nothing but a nanny with a fanny. Why are you taking his kid on holiday ON YOUR OWN???
Does he have a golden knob or is he just a knob? He had a rest when you took his KID on holiday!!! Is it his house or yours? If it's yours, boot him out love 😘

Edited

They are her kids, isn’t nanny with a fanny usually used for a step mum (or girlfriend)?

GrantMyWishes · Today 15:54

OP, that's WONDERFUL news!! Well done for ending it. I know it's not as easy as we all think it is when it comes to other people, but at the end of the day, you say you've split before and gone back, with hopes of 'things being better this time', only to find that they're not. So please do yourself, and your children a HUGE favour, and make this the last time that you put yourself through the pain of breaking up, with no doubting yourself, or second thoughts.

I'm sure from all the responses you've had to this thread, it is now clear to you that his behaviour is NOT acceptable, and that it's not a case of 'if only you did this' or 'if only you did that' things would be better and he'd treat you the way you'd like him to, but the fact is, that NOTHING you do will ever change him! He's NOT the man you met anymore, and in actual fact probably never was, but he acted a part, to get, and keep you interested in the early stages, then couldn't keep it up. So now that the mask has slipped, and he's found out that he can just treat you like shit, you'll have a massive row and throw him out, but then a bit of sweet talking, and a few promises to change, which he already knows he won't keep, and you're back where it suits HIM, and he reverts to type.

A while ago someone told me a saying which may well be appropriate in your case, it is this:

If you always do, what you've always done, then you'll always get, what you always got.

Think about it!

This is what you've been doing over recent years, so if you keep doing it, you'll end up back here again, in the same old pattern.

Wishing you all the VERY BEST! Stay strong, you CAN do this!!

DurinsBane · Today 15:57

Tabbitha · Today 14:15

So the youngest are all his ! Jesus stop drip feeding!

She never said they weren’t?

safetyfreak · Today 16:15

Sam17062002 · Today 13:36

@Homemerge I’m 24 years of age so what do you think? I’ve only been in two relationships and my relationship with my father has been complicated in the past but he is a hard working man whom has never left me or my mother without anything

OP, I was 25 when I separated from my first husband. He was horrid, and I stayed far longer than I should have. We had a child together even though I saw the warning signs, so no excuse.

I was 28 when I met my current husband; he is so lovely, and we have been together 8 years now, with a house of our own and a little DD.

You are SO young, I know you think you love him, but he will just keep causing you pain and make your life harder. There are good men out there, not perfect of course but a man who will adore you. Don't settle...for this...

I wish you luck and hope you get out.

pikkumyy77 · Today 17:40

We are trying to help you see that you are trying to turn a pig’s ear into a silk purse. It can’t be done.

You “ended it” last night! That’s great! Now choose yourself, your children, your life over him next time he comes quivering around you for sex snd housing. Don’t take him back. Strike out on your own emotionally. Be brave.

Onbuy · Today 18:44

This solo holiday seems like the icing on the cake of an utter shit show of a relationship.

I cannot, in any shape or form, imagine being with a man who lives with his parents whilst I live with his two children and my children from a previous relationship. What on earth must your friends and family think for a start?! And your daughter… when she goes to school… won’t she realise that actually - if your mum and dad are supposedly together, they are meant to live together. Without your dad flouncing out every now and then.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread