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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to not want to be the only one who does the dinner everynight!

228 replies

Hai1988 · 28/05/2010 16:32

Basicly as i said above, even on DH days off and holidays I am always the one who does it!
and y does he always want feeding when ive just sat down or in the middle of something!!
ITS like having 2 4 year olds in the house sometimes

Does ne one else have this problem, living wit a man who still thinks its the stone age and women cook and man works {shock]

BTW i found out on a recent holiday with the fil that he has these same views on life so ive worked out where its come from {angry]

OP posts:
Bonsoir · 28/05/2010 21:06

Productive brain work is absolutely indispensable for moving life forward. You don't have to spend your whole life doing it, but without it you go nowhere fast.

LetThereBeRock · 28/05/2010 21:07

Better a low IQ than a superiority complex.

melondrama · 28/05/2010 21:08

bibbitybobbity you're right, that's the point i think it's v v boring to have to cook everynight

i love to cook and do the food shopping so plan the weeks menus etc but sometimes i simply can't be arsed! the monotony and tyranny of the routine 'do my head in'.

when ds was small we would pop to fish n chip shop or eat out on such nights but now with a house full of people it's not so easy. dh usually makes chilli or bolognese so i make sure ingredients are there but he only cooks once a week or less

trouble is everyone prefers my cooking, including me!

JulesJules · 28/05/2010 21:09

Productive Brain Work??

PickUpYourPants · 28/05/2010 21:10

Back to the OP question.
I work full time and still do all the things you do and you complain about cooking the meal. All in all I work 50 plus hours a week and run a house hold. Including taking kids to school ensuring they get home (walk/bus), feeding, washing and getting them to there extra curricular activities each day.
At 4 my kids were in at least half day school and if I hadn't of worked I just don't know what I would have done with all my free time.
YABU

secretskillrelationships · 28/05/2010 21:16

I think this discussion is somewhat missing the point.

You are feeling taken for granted. You cook and then he doesn't turn up, isn't hungry, you don't cook and then he wants food.

He does not see what needs doing and therefore does not even do the very basic jobs that would help you to feel less taken for granted. In one of your earlier posts you asked whether he could just empty the bin once in a while.

You are not asking for too much, you are not disorganised, you are feeling taken for granted.

You talk to your H about how you feel, you try to sort out some sort of rota, etc, etc and still nothing changes.

And there is a real possibility that nothing will change. Just because you talk and he appears to listen does not mean that he agrees or will do anything differently. In fact, I would guess that he provokes a row and then you feel you're being unreasonable to have a row over something so small.

But it is real and it is important. My H got worse and worse as we had more DCs to the point were, while he did things round the house, the only jobs I could rely on him to do was take out the bins and cut the grass (and he succeeded in outsourcing the grass!).

However, once I finally realised that this was part of a much bigger issue of emotional abuse and we separated, I started to see things much more clearly. It sounds petty when you talk to other people and they give you lots of suggestions as to what you can do but it's very difficult to put your finger on what it is that is wrong. I still can't explain to myself what exactly the problem was in our relationship but I know it was deeply and fundamentally wrong.

On a very practical level, what I have since discovered is that the mess was primarily created by HIM. The DCs are better at tidying up after themselves than he is and are much much better without him acting as an appalling role model.

So, is this about sharing out some tasks or is it a symptom of something much deeper. I am obviously biased by my experiences but the whole thing you described about meals you cook rang real controlling alarm bells to me.

sungirltan · 28/05/2010 21:18

yanbu. my dh has this trick of agreeing to cook every now and then but taking so long and getting so stressed with it by the time i eat i am ready to juts give up and cook myself for a another few weeks

pagwatch · 28/05/2010 21:54

Productive brain work is something that most of us do without having to talk about it, make time for it or proclaim it as a virtue.

And my cleaners are bright hard working young women who recognise an area where they can provide an excellent service for a good wage which works around their family circumstances.

I am happy to get out of their way to let them get on with it. I suspect that fussy bored women who think they no best make their work much harder.

And moving life forward is a moveable feast. It is possible to become more and more insufferable I suspect whilst being completely unaware of ones own aching limitations

ModernDayCinders · 28/05/2010 21:59

so do men just not see what is going on around them

scottishmummy · 28/05/2010 23:03

don't the women who acquiesce to these lazy men/dh see what is going on?for as long as they tolerate it dh will do it

foureleven · 29/05/2010 07:22

I was with you Bonsoir until the low IQ comment... my cleaner is an eastern european woman who was a dentist back home..

pagwatch do I deduce from your posts that you dont work, your kids are at school AND you have cleaners...?

Sorry if im wrong, maybe Ive misunderstood.

ModernDayCinders · 29/05/2010 08:03

I had a cleaner for a day

I was very uncomfortable with her

it was too much of an intrusion for me
or maybe she was just too bossy to be a cleaner

thehat · 29/05/2010 08:51

OP I feel your pain hence DH and I had crisps and wine for our meal last night!

pagwatch · 29/05/2010 09:20

foureleven

yes. That is right.

But my circumstances are not straightforward....
It is all very dull but I can explain if you want

pagwatch · 29/05/2010 09:21

and actually I have gardeners too

lowenergylightbulb · 29/05/2010 09:39

Bonsoir, leaving the low IQ comment aside for a minute.... if a man who works all day lives alone without a wifey to run around after him, he still has to come home and feed himself.

Why being a SAHM should automatically = domestic servitude I really do not know.

pagwatch · 29/05/2010 10:45

and actually, when you think about fourelevens at my not working and having a cleaner, would a man who was financially able to give up work and get a cleaner draw gasps of shock.
And why do so many retired couples still have the wife doing much ofthe house maintainence
We are very tied to the notion that women are responsible for the home.

DuncanF · 29/05/2010 11:21

I'm with Amuminscotland! It all depends on how other things are shared out, including the earning. A unilateral action to stop cooking or punish him cannot work - it just ends up in a fight. Certainly in my house, who does what is part of a complicated pattern, and to change one part of it requires changing other things to make it possible. And we find any change difficult because we are on autopilot and tired; it takes a lot of working out. Our children are growing up now and we have the same issue with them now - re-working things so that they help (and more - that they actually become responsible). It takes a lot more effort at the start than just getting on with it and feeling it is all unfair.

CrankyTwanky · 29/05/2010 11:28

low IQ? dim?

My mother was a cleaner when I was small. She is a graduate & MENSA member with an IQ of 163.

What's wrong with being a SAHM and having someone in to help, especially if your role is particularly demanding?
I am currently petitioning DH for a cleaner despite being on mat leave.

OP, seriously, get DC to help. Let her make a marinade for chicken or their own pizza.

mumofthreesweeties · 29/05/2010 12:51

OP, I understand your frustration but I just feel that if I am home I can get on with the cooking. Would you actually wait for your DP to get home to start cooking when you have been at home all day? That doesnt make sense to me tbh. Why dont you just find him something else to do like washing the dishes and giving DS a bath every day. That is the arrangement we have in our house. I work full time and do the school run both ways etc. I do most of the housework anyway which I dont really mind because I am rather obsessive in how I like things done. When I get home each evening I put the dinner on as my OH gets home about two hours after us. If I have energy I will even give DS his bath (although its not expected of me). I believe that housework should be shared yes but I also dont believe in not doing a chore because it belongs to xyz.

My aim is for my OH and I to have some quality time together each evening and if I was to wait around for him to cook etc then the kids would go to bed late and we would never have time to connect just on our own. In all fairness if your DS is 4 now he is not as much hardwork as lets say a newborn. It is hard work yes, but not too difficult (and yes I have three kids myself 12, 5 and 10months)

mumofthreesweeties · 29/05/2010 12:57

I also agree with secretskill

Hai1988 · 29/05/2010 13:02

secretskillrelationships, Thank you so much, im so glad that some1 understands what i am feeling!
I really dont know what to do about it tho.
I recon im gonna talk to him later when DS is in bed and see what happens from there.
And again Thanks secrets x

OP posts:
dittany · 29/05/2010 13:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Hai1988 · 29/05/2010 13:04

oh and yes to the person who asked if my son goes to nursary he does for 3 hours a day in the afternoons, in which i tidy up lunchtime things, put a load of never ending washing on, and a genral tidy/ clean of daily things and pick up toys which are always left on the floor!!

OP posts:
mumofthreesweeties · 29/05/2010 13:06

Have just reread your post Hai and you really need to sit down with him. If he cant even take the bin out then that is dreadful for you. My OH is on the lazy side and if I dont push him to do things then he will be happy to just sit there. However all I have to do is can you iron the kids uniforms or take the clothes out to dry or even vacuum and he will do it. Never once has he complained about doing this. In the morning we get the kids ready together, he does the packed lunch and DD's food and milk for the minders etc. TBH I really cant complain...........Yes I also get annoyed ocassionally about being the only one who cooks but do you know what, I can live with that. He just does so much more that the cooking is not an issue at all. Please do speak with him and if he is not willing to change then you need to ask yourself whether you will be happy to tolerate that sort of behaviour indeterminately.