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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

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Am i being unreasonable??

44 replies

SarahJane1324 · 05/04/2013 22:11

Hello.. sorry for the essay but i need to lay it out... please respond with both sides in mind as best and as honestly as i can put it.

I am 22, my partner for 2 years is 40. We have an 11 month old boy who i love with all my heart. I am a full time mother, my partner owns a business with his ex wife (who he has 2 children with) whom he sees everyday monday to friday and he works from 8am until he comes home at 8:30 sometimes 11 due to private jobs he takes on. i occasionally see a couple of friends during the week for short periods of time but i am still looking after our son so in mother mode i guess. As i am young and used to go out a lot with my friends, i have calmed down considerably since having {edited} our son). I am a great doting mother and my partner works hard to support us and his other family, and he does do that well and understandably is under a lot of pressure in the current economic/ financial climate.

There are a lot of problems with our relationship, its turbulent and fine for a while but the same arguments re-accur..mainly due to his opinionated Ex and pressures of his work and his anger issues (he can be very aggressive and sometimes close to violence). We have had a massive row once again about the fact that once a week i would like to see my friends for a few drinks round the corner in the local pub, harmless and i certainly love my family so never act like I'm single. I have on occasions come in late around 2-3 but its sometimes been hard to get out of my old habits of being young and a student (recently graduated)... But he thinks this is unacceptable and taking the piss because thats too much to go out once a week, even if i promise to be back before 1. He knows who i am with but because he doesn't have time (work etc.) to make more friends, i feel he is resentful that i do have friends and really need to interact once a week because i work hard during the week... he had all washing cleaning etc. done and food on the table every night, even when he comes home at 11pm i cook. He shouts and yells and slammed doors in front of our son which makes me cry because i hate him being witness to that... i keep my voice down but he cannot control his temper and rage. When i cry he storms out quote "pathetic" and doesn't "suffer fools gladly" (had an insensitive mother growing up". I try to understand why he reacts like this but am finding it difficult being with a man that has before had me oiled down so hard that my chest was bruised and said he was gonna "kill you you cunt". I feel like all the resentment i hold over his business with his ex wife and things i can't talk to him about because of his anger, i need to see friends once a week because otherwise i feel trapped and isolated. Is this too much to ask for? am i being unreasonable? I asked him to bring me a compromise and tell me how much he thinks i should go out but he refused and said i was putting him on the spot and how dare i do that. Please give me some advice on how to manage all of this. I will not have my son bear witness to this... jumping out of his skin and sitting on the floor in the corridor looking both easy confused because he doesn't understand or know which way to go. It literally rips my heart out of my chest but i don't want him to see me cry either, Please help.

OP posts:
SarahJane1324 · 05/04/2013 22:50

thank you for all your comments... i really appreciate it... i have family in leeds but not here in london... makes it worse really coz i can only ever run to leeds! He would never hurt our son, i know that for sure (not physically anyway) but i know leaving would be the hardest thing because i want to be able to support my son without having to reap benefits from this country (i have always worked) and i was due to do my masters degree in clinical psychology in september (how ironic), and as sad as it is its one thing i was hoping i would get under my belt because otherwise I can't be supported by anyone. i am confused because my mum usually gives me good advice and my dad too, but both (and my sister) say that i have to work it out for DSs sake... they have met him and they think he is really nice (he is a charmer to the outward eye... thats why i fell for him) but had i have know, i know we would not be together. I have had a bit of a colourful life previously and i used to be depressed but i now stopped medication to get strong and have been doing well for around 3 years since being at uni, but all of this is making me question myself as a person/ girlfriend and i am no longer confident that i know myself truly.... on the other hand my stronger side tells me he is a coward and just isn't dealing well with life and i shouldn't put up with it.

(how do i move this to relationships?)

OP posts:
blueballoon79 · 05/04/2013 22:51

I had a partner like yours, a long time ago when I was only 16 years old. Like your husband, my partner could be very loving and very kind inbetween the abuse.

My partner never hit me at first, just made threats and emotionally abused me. This escalated into physical abuse until one day he attempted to kill me. He pinned me down and tried to strangle me.

Luckily I never had a child with him but please don't allow your child to grow up in this harmful and dangerous environment.

You sound like a wonderful, loving mother- so do what's right for your child even if you can't do it for yourself and leave, now.

CocoNutter · 05/04/2013 22:51

Abuse doesn't have to be physical. This is going to sound trite, but if you read the article on abuse in April's issue of Glamour it is pretty much exactly what you have described. You need to go now before it gets worse. Perhaps what you've described is why his ex is now an ex too.

SanityClause · 05/04/2013 22:54

Report your thread, and ask for it to be moved. (just click on Report)Smile

You have had good advice here, but there are some really lovely helpful people in Relationships, who you are missing out on!

OliviaMumsnet · 05/04/2013 22:57

HI there OP We will move this for you happily now
We can also edit out the identifying parts of your post - it may be a good idea to do that too?

eminemmerdale · 05/04/2013 22:58

Please leave him. I don't often post on threads like thisbut I had an abusive husband. I was strong and intelligent and all those things and he 'could be' lovely and I stayed for too long 'in case' it was going to be ok. It wasn't, it never is, it will get worse. my daughter now bears the scars and always will and she is an adult. Just go. Please.

eminemmerdale · 05/04/2013 23:06

Even when he threw me down the stairs and broke my ankle, I, as someone who was 'pah, never make excuses for violent men' ended up in A and E saying i had tripped. You will end up doing the same. Your little boy shouldn't be sitting in the corner shaking, you know that :( i m so sad for you.

sadeyedladyofthelowlandsea · 05/04/2013 23:07

Get out. Get out now. Pack up all your important documents, whatever clothes you can get into a bag for you and DS. Contact Women's Aid, Refuge, any local charities that help vulnerable women.

His behaviour is only ever going to get worse. Please, please make an escape plan now, act on it tomorrow, and keep posting here. You will get so much support and a lot of good advice.

cantreachmytoes · 05/04/2013 23:15

It has nothing to do with his age.
Being pinned down was abuse.
He's also psychologically abusive from what little you've said.

He's not always bad? Nobody is 100% horrible 100% of the time. Hitler didn't like the idea of killing animals to eat, so was a vegetarian (from what I hear!).

You have a brilliant career ahead of you. You have worked hard for your degree. Don't waste it.

As everyone else has said: take your documents, anything you'll need for DS and leave when he's not there.

Not easy, but that will cause far less damage to DS than waiting until he sees mummy crying, being hurt or being scared in the future. You know how his brain is developing and how he will normalise this. It's up to you to not let that happen and there is only one person's actions you can control.

Leave him. Please.

HappyAsASandboy · 05/04/2013 23:19

I agree that you need to leave this man. You say that your family think you should work it out for your son's sake, but they don't know what's going on. Print this thread out and hand it to your mum/sister/brother. They won't think you need to work it out.

If you have somewhere to stay there, take your son to Leeds. His father is not a good father to him because he abuses you. No child should grow up with the conflicting emotions of living a Dad who abuses his Mum. It's too hard for a child to process.

Please go home to your family.

SolidGoldBrass · 05/04/2013 23:25

This man chose you because you are a lot younger than him and he is incapable of having a healthy relationship with a woman: he wants a partner he can bully and mistreat. He is not your boss or your owner, he is an inadequate prick, and you can leave him without a second glance. He will be legally obliged to pay towards your son's upbringing, and while he will have a legal right to see the child he has no legal rights over you.Women's Aid will help you get away.

AnyFucker · 05/04/2013 23:28

You don't "manage" this

You leave, and take your child with you before this twat fucks him up too

SarahJane1324 · 05/04/2013 23:46

all you this advice is really heart warming, i feel like i already have support. "solidgoldbrass" u know what... that makes a lot of sense, i think thats something i would have said to my friend if they were in this situation. I doubt a 40 year old would want to be with a 22 year old unless he had issues he hadn't worked out. god this is such a headfu**... relationships and life is so complicated :-/

OP posts:
PopMusic · 05/04/2013 23:50

But have you told your family about the things he has said and the things he has done? I'm sure they won't think he is a charmer when they hear what he is actually like?

You are young with your whole life ahead of you, do you really want to waste the best years of your life with this man? Do you want this life in 5 years? 10 years? 15? 20? Do you want DS to grow up thinking its all normal?

Listen to that independent voice that's telling you that he is a coward. That independent voice will give you the freedom that you and your DS deserve. Get out now. Go back to your family.

OldLadyKnowsNothing · 05/04/2013 23:52

Yes, it's complicated, but some of us have been on that path already, so we can act as signposts.

NeedlesCuties · 06/04/2013 07:54

You've had some good advice, OP.

My guess is that he doesn't want you out with friends because he wants to isolate you, keep you at home all the time just in case you get a taste of reality and see what a tosser he is.

Contact Women's Aid. They will help you, and you'll find out that there are many women from all ages, backgrounds etc in similar circumstances.

You're not alone, even though he's making you feel like you are.

LovesBeingWokenEveryNight · 06/04/2013 08:02

Op he is scared of losing you. Not because he lives you so so much but because he has decides when and if it is over. He is controlling you and breaking down your free will.

If you have told your parents everything and that is the advice you have been given then I am disgusted with them. If you have not then please tell them everything.

You cannot make anyone change so you have to decide, can you stay or do you have to leave?

Lueji · 06/04/2013 08:22

Agreeing with everyone else. Just leave him.
Make sure you do it safely, though.
Have a friend with you or do it when he's away.

You cannot be sure he won't hurt your son, btw.

TheOrchardKeeper · 06/04/2013 08:27

He's textbook abusive.

Trying to isolate you.

Yes, he's not 100% evil but they never are (my dad had 'nice points' and was 'damaged'...didn't stop him nearly killing my mum in the end though).

Just because he hasn't hurt your son, doesn't mean he won't. Also, the damage of witnessing an abusive relationship in progress is just as bad, if not worse for children.

Call WA for some advice, make an exit plan & LEAVE.

(And do not tell him about any of this. It will not end well).

Hope you're ok Thanks

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