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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

Sulking for Britain.....can't take any more.

29 replies

hippyhip · 26/11/2011 09:25

We have been married for 16years. We had been married six months before I saw the slightest sign of a sulk, but when he did....what a shock! He sulked for a fortnight. Hardly spoke to me, happily ate the meals I prepared him during the day, but wouldn't even make eye contact with me, let alone physical contact, and at night kept his back to me as far away from me as he could in the bed. It was weeks later that I discovered what it was all about. He'd been through my cheque book,and discovered how much I'd paid for a certain item! (I AM earning!).

This would happen approx every six months about something or other,but more often than not he would not I'd never find out what it was about. I've tried discussing with him, about getting help for him to modify his reactions and I think I've done it in a loving and supportive way, but he looks at me like I'm something he wiped off his shoe.

Seven years ago I became disabled through negligent surgery. It has turned this family upside down. In fairness to my OH he has been very supportive, though we've still had the regular sulks. He's a grafter and can't bear to see me on my pc for a start. I still do nearly all the housework myself, from my wheelchair. He's never short of food or clean clothes. I do the paperwork for the business, but he wanted someone to work outdoors WITH him, not WATCH him do it!

Anyway.....finally.....as I write this he's been in a mood with me for SEVEN WEEKS! He'll speak to me in a platonic way, which is odd. There's no physical contact or eye contact. If there's anything on his plate at meal times that doesn't quite fit the bill, he throws his toys out of the cot. He's getting practically waitress service. Difference this time is that he will hold me in bed, much as a machine wood, but only if I happen to be lying with my back to him. If I turn to face him, he turns his back on me.

I love him dearly, but I can't take any more of this it's killing me. I have two children in their early twenties, who are aware of the situation and who now admit to having been scared of him as little kids. I feel so ashamed that I never realised that. Yes, my OH's dad treated him like dirt and criticised him incessantly. I've tried to explain that this may have some bearing on his behaviour, but he says it's my problem ,not his. He has driven all my friends away as they're scared of him......I don't know what to do. I'm feeling increasingly sad and isolated. Any suggestions please?

OP posts:
PontyMython · 26/11/2011 09:28

He sounds really immature. Grown ups don't sulk, and certainly without telling you why!

When you talk about it with him, is it only when he's in a mood, or have you tried when he's otherwise happy?

clam · 26/11/2011 09:33

You've tolerated this for 16 years?! Shock

What are the good points that make you "love him dearly?"

pictish · 26/11/2011 09:36

Hmmm sounds like a method of control....in order to keep you on your toes and trying to put things right....the fact that he won't let on what your supposed crime even is hints at a cruel streak.

It suits him to have you scuttling about trying to appease him....that's why he does it. Once he's satisfied that you are completely at his mercy he will be nice again and 'forgive' you.

Until it begins again.

It's horrible, emotionally manipulative, childish and not at all acceptable in a loving and supportive relationship. Don't stand for it.

clam · 26/11/2011 09:43

You see, I can't see this as an isolated fault, as in "everything's fine - apart from the occasional sulking episode." The thinking behind such behaviour has to permeate everything he does and is. The total self-absorption and truly believing that this is your problem not his.
Except that he is your problem and you need to sort out whether you can continue in this "relationship."

TooEasilyTempted · 26/11/2011 09:46

I don't know how you have put up with this for 16 years, really??

I can't abide sulkers and refuse to indulge them by trying to 'jolly them out of it' or please them in any way. He's using sulking as a method of control, and I'll bet you're tripping over yourself trying to be the perfect wife so he might deign to snap out of it.

Personally I'd tell him today to fuck off, and stop doing anything for him, stop talking to him, treat him as he's treating you and tell him that when he can behave like an adult then you can have a discussion about your future together as you won't be putting up with this behaviour any more.

He will shit himself with shock because he won't think for a minute, after 16 years, that you would break the pattern. Grin

He sounds like an utter knob.

ImperialBlether · 26/11/2011 09:48

Are your children his children? I hate to think of them being scared of him. I wonder, if you left, whether they would ever see him?

I couldn't bear to live like that. I really couldn't. I'd feel like I was treading on eggshells the whole time, whether he was sulking or not.

I imagine if you left your children and any friends would give you a lot of support to enable you to do so. Have you thought about how nice a life would be on your own? If you were to think about it, how do you think it would be?

ImperialBlether · 26/11/2011 09:50

Yes, have to say I think you're enabling his sulking to some extent. If someone wasn't talking to me, there's no way I'd be cooking his dinner and acting like a waitress. No way at all.

When I opened this thread I thought he'd been sulking for a few hours. That would be enough for me! I was prepared to say go out for the day and tell him you'll come back when he's an adult.

But this? I couldn't handle it. I'd be a nervous wreck and very unhappy.

BobblyGussets · 26/11/2011 09:52

OP, I am so sorry for your situation and the cruel behaviour of someone who's supposed to care about you towards you.

I second whta Tooeasily tempted said. I would not be serving him any food or drinks or washing any of that cruel man's clothes. You sound as if you do so much despite your diasabilty and yet he punishes you for it.

My Dad is emotionally abusive and I see some of those traits in myself, but thank fully, DH wouldn't have it and I do love him, and would be lost without him as he gives me a good bollocking if I display one fraction of the behaviour you have had to put up with.

Cooking his dinners? If he was my DH behaving like that, he'd be fucking well wearing them. He is not fit to lick you boots and my hear goes out to you. Don't let it kill you, that is so heartbreaking to read.

pictish · 26/11/2011 09:52

I agree.

Tell him "I am completely out of 'give a shit' now - you can do your own thing, and I'll do mine. If you deign to snap out of it and want to treat me with some respect, you know where I am. In the meantime, take your big cream puff and choke on it. I no longer care!"

Then watch as he throws the biggest tantrum of his life because you dared to defy him, and break the pattern.

I have experienced industrial scale sulking too OP. It's all about control. It's nothing to do with their inner torment at anything you, or anyone else has done to upsey him...it's purely designed to control.

LittleWarmHouse · 26/11/2011 10:00

Have a look at This Thread and read some of the links and see whether any of it rings a bell.

I think you are in an abusive relationship and like several of us on the Support Thread have been living with it for years trying to fix things and minimising and denying what is really happening because of the implications.

You need to read, to learn and to absorb information before you can identify better what is going on. Then you can, slowly and with support, start to imagine the unimaginable of NOT having to live like this for the rest for your life.

I'm glad you started your own thread hippy that must have taken courage. Well done!

babyhammock · 26/11/2011 10:19

You ARE in an abusive relationship.
Everyone is scared of him.
He's islolating you

pictish · 26/11/2011 10:34

If you can't take any more, then don't.
I'm not being flippant in an Oprah Winfrey 'kick him to the curb, girl!' sort of way....I mean it. 16 years of that shit! You have done your time and then some!

Think about how it will be to spend the rest of your life being treated like a second class citizen, whose main purpose is to serve the ego of this selfish and controlling man. A man who sees fit to disrespect and disregard your feelings in order that his own may continually take precedence. Think of spending the next 16 years walking on eggshells and striving to make things 'just so' so you do not trigger another sulking episode.

Know this - it's NOT YOU - IT'S HIM.

Normal, loving, supportive PARTNERS do not go into a sulk for weeks at a time and treat their loved ones like emotional serfs, who are obliged to read their minds and adjust their behaviour accordingly in order to feed their desire to be the number one priority!!

SarahStratton · 26/11/2011 10:41

I think I know you OP. L&J? He's a first class tosser, time to give him the boot.

Anniegetyourgun · 26/11/2011 12:31

A swift frying pan to the back of the head is often effective in such cases.

Not that we advocate domestic violence at all, of course unfortunately.

neuroticmumof3 · 26/11/2011 12:36

I agree with the others that this is an abusive relationship. I can't see what you are gaining from staying in it tbh.

buzzswellington · 26/11/2011 12:41

He's driven away your friends, he's been a malignant presence and source of fear to your children (unforgiveable), he rejects you and gives you the cold shoulder for mysterious crimes you never can identify? He's an abuser.

Reach out to people, get away.

HecateGoddessOfTheNight · 26/11/2011 12:52

Why the hell do you cook his meals and run round after him when he's sulking? For 16 years you have put meals in front of someone who won't even look at you?

Sulk = strike.

Want to be a tit, cook your own meals. Normal service will resume when you stop bloody sulking.

I agree with others that it is a form of manipulation/control and in its most extreme version - abuse.

You don't have to accept it.

MarieFromStMoritz · 26/11/2011 12:56

Good God woman, you have put up with this for 16 years??? You do know that he is bullying you, don't you?

Do like the idea of sulk = strike.

Also like the idea of sulk = grow up or get out.

hippyhip · 26/11/2011 14:00

Wow, I'm quite overwhelmed by the sheer volume of replies. LittleWarm House, thankyou for directing me to that thread. I did look, and he borders on a lot of those things...just. I'd started to think I was the abnormal one....or that somehow it was my fault. I know that he casually keeps an eye on the mileage of my car......or rather HIS car. He'd be terrified of my leaving in case I took half the business with me, but I'm sure he'd turn nasty rather than mend his ways. There'd be no going back once I'd said it. He has never hit me, yet I'm afraid of him.......that's just stupid......isn't it? The children are from my first marriage, and wouldn't care if they didn't see him again. I'm painfully aware that this would be a second failed marriage, and that then reinforces the idea in my head that there's something wrong with me.

He pulled me through some really hard times, he makes me laugh when he's ok.........but I'm not sure now you mention it that the good ever outweighed the bad. Sigh!

OP posts:
LittleWarmHouse · 26/11/2011 14:22

There'd be no going back once I'd said it

Said what hippy? That you don't like him sulking, or that you think he is being abusive, or that you want to end your marriage?

If he was a decent normal bloke he would be desperately upset and want to do everything to make things better and not lose you. If he reacts by throwing his toys out of the pram and escalating his behaviour then you are going to be all the more certain it is him not you!

Don't rush things. Just take time to observe and detach and notice how he is treating you generally, whether he shows any affection and kindness to you.

I know what you mean about not wanting to give up after all the time you have invested in this relationship. The analogy with "not throwing good money after bad" springs to mind. I spent 28 years with a man who made me unhappy and it was hard to admit to myself that I had made a catastrophic mistake and needed to leave.

Be kind to yourself. You are probably a bit shocked by all this.

ImperialBlether · 26/11/2011 14:31

Just let's look at the business side a minute, OP.

Do you both work in the business? When did the business start (in terms of you both getting together)?

Oh and for the record, why the hell are you staying with someone your children are scared of and wouldn't choose to see again?

hippyhip · 26/11/2011 14:44

They're not children any more. They're in their twenties, one doesn't live at home. The other does. She works for the business, and so do I. She's self employed and I'm employed....it's a tax thing they tell me.....a legitimate one.
OH is a sole trader. In 16 years there hasn't been talk of making me a partner ever......so I have precisely nothing. I'm a graduate and work for just above minimum wage for my husband. Tried going out to work, but he just complained the whole time, about the travelling costs and that I wasn't here when I was needed.

LWH, if I even mentioned the word abusive......it has a totally different ring to it than mere 'sulking', doesn't it? My brain hurts now. I have some thinking to do,don't I? I'll try and consider myself in all of this. So far, all I can think of is how he'll cope without me! Daft ......but true.

OP posts:
carernotasaint · 26/11/2011 17:01

So hes not only mentally and psychologically abusive. Hes financially abusive as well.

ImperialBlether · 26/11/2011 18:22

Is this a business you believe in? Does it satisfy you intellectually? I just wonder why you are working for minimum wage when you could be earning a more decent living elsewhere.

Have you skills that would transfer into a better paid job?

You say there hasn't been talk about a partnership, but why didn't you say you wouldn't work there unless it was a partnership?

I'm sorry if you think I'm picking on you here, I'm just trying to understand the conversation where he suggests you work for him for a pittance.

Does he make reasonable money from the business?

SnapesMistress · 26/11/2011 19:28

He pays you minimum wage? How much does he get? Why is it how much each of you get paid rather than family money/profits?

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