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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

'I am not responsible for how you feel'

118 replies

CowardlyNNChanger · 06/05/2014 13:10

If I ever mention that I am upset about anything that DH has done or not done, or a way he has acted, this is the response I get. I understand it to the extent that we cannot control the actions of others but we can control how we respond to them. But it still upsets me, makes me feel as though I am overreacting and causing myself to be unhappy.

Does anyone else get this?

OP posts:
Jan45 · 06/05/2014 13:12

No, your DH is being a selfish twat, why do you want to be with someone who clearly has no regard for your feelings?

JassyRadlett · 06/05/2014 13:13

No, but he can control the behaviours that lead to the feelings. A decent person would.

Bonsoir · 06/05/2014 13:18

Your DH is denying the fact that he has the power to hurt you, therefore absolving himself of responsibility towards you.

Hurt him very badly and then have a heart-to-heart.

scallopsrgreat · 06/05/2014 13:19

Generally said by someone who wants an excuse to not have to take your feelings into account.

Fair enough if you are breaking up with someone and they are emotionally blackmailing you. But not if you supposedly love the person and want to live them.

He doesn't sound very nice at all.

JeanSeberg · 06/05/2014 13:21

It depends on what the issues are you're pointing out to him. If you have a constant list of what he's done wrong or perceived slights, then I can understand his point of view. However, if they are major things that he knows are wrong and that cause you upset, of course you are entitled to expect him to behave differently.

Can you give us some examples of the types of things you mean?

wyrdyBird · 06/05/2014 13:22

No.
It's just a manipulative trick, which allows him to be awful to you, and then blame you for being upset about it.
Don't fall for his BS.

WhoNickedMyName · 06/05/2014 13:23

Depends. Can you give us an example of something he has done or not done that has upset you?

pregnantpause · 06/05/2014 13:25

What a dismissive prickHmm
I'd be tempted to go out of my way to upset him and turn his cruel little argument around on him- but that won't help.
I teach my children that they need to take responsibility for their actions and how they impact on others. If I chose to be cruel to someone than I am responsible for that action, and I have caused hurt and upset. Is your dh so thick as to not understand that?

Why is he so dismissive? He is basically telling you he doesn't give a fuck about your feelings. As long as he's happy it's all goodConfused

Martorana · 06/05/2014 13:25

It depends. He is, actually, right. But if he is consistently doing/saying things that hurt you without modifying his behaviour at all, then he is being selfish and unkind.

Fontella · 06/05/2014 13:28

I'm not for a second condoning what he's saying to you - because it's nothing more than a cop out by which he's giving himself permission to behave how he wants and if it upsets you then that's 'your' problem and not his. You don't give specifics about particular behaviours on his part, but it's clear that you getting upset, angry, sad - whatever your emotional response is to things he does, and he is absolving himself of all responsibility for that emotional response.

That's not right of course ... however, what he is saying is actually true, and it applies to all of us.

meditrina · 06/05/2014 13:28

You are not over-reacting.

As you acknowledge, you can only change yourself. You have found yourself with a DH who has poor communication skills and who is not responsive spontaneously to the impact of his actions. He is right, you cannot change him. You have indicated that you would like change and it seems to have been repeatedly rebuffed, rather than acted on (ideally by working together - an alien concept to him?)

So perhaps this is time to think about taking him at his word. He is not going to change. What changes are you now going to make for yourself? Are the issues serious enough to be deal-breakers?

JeanSeberg · 06/05/2014 13:36

There's a lot of people jumping to a lot of conclusions on this thread, unless there's a back story that I don't know about. How can we know he's a selfish twat, dismissive prick based on the information given?

rabbitrisen · 06/05/2014 13:41

Agree with Bonsoir.
Switch it round.
You hurt him, words wise and use the same words as he does.

If he doesnt get the message do it again.

I think you will find that he very soon understands!

[chances are he does already actually]

CowardlyNNChanger · 06/05/2014 13:42

One example, one that has been playing on my mind, is after dc2 was born, the first day after his paternity ended, when I had dc1 aged 3 and a 2.5wo baby. I had a shower, went to playgroup where I bf for the first time in public, picked up a few bits from the shop, cleaned the bathroom and did a load of washing. I had dining ready when he arrived home and dc1 had been fed.

He walked through the door and saw some toys on the floor. He started picking them up muttering about having to come home from work and keep working. When I said they were just a fe toys and couldn't they wait til 7 and be cleared away then he said that he works hard every day, is it too much to ask to come home to a tidy house? I said that I was quite proud of myself for what I had achieved and that it was just the first few days with a new baby and his dismissive attitude and the implication that I couldn't do anything right was upsetting.

This is the kind of time he wheels out the above.

I rarely pull him up on stuff now, the sulking or martyrdom over how hard he works mean that I only argue the important stuff, but inevitably I am told that if I am upset it is my fault.

He always said he wanted two children, but since having dc1, if things have not been up to his standards or how he wants them he used to say, 'I don't know how you think you'll manage two if you can't even keep the house clean with one'. Therefore I can't complain about being kept up in the night, bfing, general tiredness. Yes, I did want another child but I think he did too, he just wanted it under his conditions.

Sorry, ranting! And some of this isn't even recent, it's just that I seem to be thinking of things like this more often now and realising not only that it's not really nice, but also that I have put up with it for so long and I can't work out why so I am weighing up whether I am overreacting, maybe I make a big deal where there isn't one. Not sure.

OP posts:
CowardlyNNChanger · 06/05/2014 13:43

Sorry for the essay, didn't realise how much I was thinking about this until I started to type!

I really was just wondering whether anyone else's partners say this and how you away with it.

OP posts:
Motherinlawsdung · 06/05/2014 13:45

He sounds completely horrible.

JeanSeberg · 06/05/2014 13:46

Yep, the others were right, he is a selfish twat and a dismissive prick.

CowardlyNNChanger · 06/05/2014 13:51

But that's the thing, he can be lovely. He has friends and work colleagues who think highly of him, I seem to be the only person who finds him dismissive, which is why part of me thinks I am taking things to heart too much. I am totally confused, he often tells me I am a great mum but then with criticise something I have done and I feel crap again. And he does work hard and long hours so I am not sure whether I am just being lazy, I do really enjoy my days and appreciate that him working enables me to be a sahm but that it what he always said he wanted.

OP posts:
scallopsrgreat · 06/05/2014 13:56

Oh he is horrible! "is it too much to ask to come home to a tidy house?" Tell him to fuck off and you aren't responsible for his feelings either.

He has positioned himself so that you can't complain about anything to do with your second child. Nasty and manipulative. And things being up to his standard (whilst him not putting any effort into that himself) is a massive red flag. Controlling and abusive.

Jan45 · 06/05/2014 13:57

Apart from the fact he actually thinks it's ok to say this, could that remark be any more condescending....

You are a team, with a child, he's doing you no favours by working, he should be providing for his family whilst you do most if not all the care.

We are all nice as pie to work colleagues and aquaintancies, it's you he should be nicer to!

scallopsrgreat · 06/05/2014 13:59

He doesn't sound like he works as long or as hard as you do OP. I bet his boss doesn't treat him like he treats you either. Not that your his employee but that's kind of the point; he is treating you like one.

He sounds like he is getting exactly what he wants and ensuring his needs and wants are met. What about your needs and wants? How is he even showing the slightest consideration towards them? Your needs matter. What you want matters.

Nosleeptillbedtime · 06/05/2014 14:00

Oh my god you are wonder woman! That list of things you did that day after dc2 was bien is incredible. I only have one child and I still have an untidy house and bathroom that needs cleaning.
Your dh is being an arse with a huge empathy bypass. He clearly has no idea what it is like at home with kids. You work all day too y'know.

DIYapprentice · 06/05/2014 14:01

Turn it back on him? When he complains about the 'mess' just say 'It looks fine to me, but if you want to be upset by it I can't control that. Feel free to tidy up what offends you so much'.

Etc, etc. Just use the same language back at him, and he will VERY QUICKLY find out just how bloody annoying it is.

CowardlyNNChanger · 06/05/2014 14:02

I am so confused. I have been unhappy for a while and have asked him to consider counselling, he won't so I have started going on my own and it is amazing when you start talking how things just flood out! Although there have been things, such as this, which I have been too embarrassed to say even to the counsellor as i think it makes me sound totally pathetic for not telling him where to shove it, if a friend of mine told me that her DH talked to her this way I would wonder why she didn't just stick up for herself! So why don't i?

OP posts:
DIYapprentice · 06/05/2014 14:03

Why don't you? Because bit by bit, he's eroded your self confidence.

I'll bet he wasn't this bad at first, he got worse at the same rate as you lost self confidence.

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