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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

DH has done something lovely but I am furious with him about it. Can you help me articulate why???

482 replies

TeaFor6 · 05/07/2014 13:21

Brief background is we have been married 9 years, mostly very happy. 4DC DC aged 8, 5 and 6month old twins.

Previously we have always had at least 1 holiday abroad a year. With the (unplanned) arrival of 2 babies things are obviously a bit tighter money wise. So we agreed we would not go abroad this year but would do days out and maybe a long wknd somewhere for ‘holidays’. I can’t lie- I was a tiny bit disappointed about not going abroad. I know it’s a bit of a first world problem but I do look forward to getting away. But I didn’t make any kind of fuss about it and I am excited for what we do have planned.

Anyway, this morning DH sits me and DDs down and announces he has booked a ‘surprise’ holiday abroad. Due to fly in 3 weeks! He booked it over a month ago. I could just about get over him booking it without telling me but I am livid that he chose to tell me at the same time as the DC’s. I am NOT a bloody child. We are supposed to be equals, partners who make decisions about these things together. Surely I’m not wrong on this???

I KNOW he was trying to do a nice thing for me but I just feel so undermined and patronised! And he just doesn’t think things through. He’s booked us a villa. So has he thought about if its in a practical location i.e. easy to push a double buggy around? Close to restaurants/supermarkets? (self-catering of course, so will he be doing all the cooking/washing up? I doubt it) Are there things for the girls to do? Is the house practical with 2 young babies? No. He hasn’t thought about any of that. Nor the inconvenient flight times (fly out at 1am). Plus I will now have to cancel appointments for that week, and a party invite for DD1 that she had already accepted.

On the less practical side I’m upset because I would have liked to have some say in choosing the holiday myself. I love looking through brochures, choosing where to go and counting down the weeks until we leave and I feel a bit like he’s taken that away from me (very childish I know, but it’s how I feel)
I know some people will say I’m being ungrateful and maybe I am, but I suppose I’m pissed off because its just another example of him making a bloody great decision without discussing it with me and just expecting me to put up with it. (It's not that long since we had a big discussion about him doing this and I thought we'd got somewhere but obviously not. It's like he thinks my opinion doesn’t matter Sad) And it feels like he’s done all the fun bits on his own and just left me to think about the practical stuff as usual Plus it might have been nice to have the fun of telling the DCs together. Now he's SuperDad and I get no credit (again very, very childish I know)

I’m trying to explain some of this to him but I’m one of those people who, when I get angry and frustrated, I end up in tears Blush It’s pretty hard to sound sane and reasonable when your voice cracks into a sob every time you try and say something!

Am I right for feeling like this? He just can’t understand why I’m upset and I feel guilty for being so angry when he really was trying to do a nice thing Sad I'm just sick of always feeling like the miserable one who puts a dampener on everything. I don't want to always have to think about the practical side but somebody has to! How do I get through to him??

OP posts:
VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 23:25

I love going on holiday any time but regardless of that, it wouldn't be a problem for me because I'm too scared to get on a plane... I thought loads of people went at dick o' clock in the morning though.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 23:28

OP, I don't think you should be grateful exactly and I understand where you're coming from. It's just some of the ott responses when you've implied a couple of times that your relationship is a good one.

CharlotteCollins · 05/07/2014 23:29

I had to go on many holidays like this. I gritted my teeth, looked for the best in a bad situation and looked forward to getting home again.

I would like to say please be stronger than I was. Unfortunately, you can try to leave the packing to him - leave all the holiday shitwork to him, but in the event you will try to smooth things over because otherwise the DCs will be affected.

OP, you said on the puppygate thread that he was a hands-on dad at the weekend and it later transpired that this did not include mundane stuff like putting the DCs to bed. Does he do the boring and difficult bits now, when he can? (If he needs reminding, it doesn't count.)

Now you say he's not the kind of guy who's never changed a nappy. My H was rather proud of his nappy-changing credentials and brought it up frequently to point out how hands-on he was. He also shut down criticism in the way yours did when you reasonably mentioned the puppy.

He was also well-meaning and only wanted to be seen as generous, thoughtful and kind. But like you, I felt he was behaving like a child.

The sad thing is that it is very unlikely now that he will grow up. Which leaves you in the uncomfortable position of being married to a child.

Greenrexine · 05/07/2014 23:30

You've been stitched up OP.
He wants to always be the good guy, while you look like the party pooper.
I'm totally bemused at the thought of being grateful for being treated like a child instead of an equal.

MrsKCastle · 05/07/2014 23:30

OP's other thread did not suggest a good relationship.

OP, sorry to put it so bluntly, I know you don't see it like that- but this thread and the last together suggest a relationship where he simply does not respect you.

CharlotteCollins · 05/07/2014 23:35

Can you get a refund?

"DH, I appreciate the thought, but it's not my kind of holiday at all. Let's look into changing the flights."

Bet they're not changeable, though. Cheap ones often aren't. :(

saffronwblue · 05/07/2014 23:37

OP I understand your anger. Lack of consultation is very undermining. Especially when he has not thought through any actual detail. On holiday you won't want your dc to feel tired hungry bored or unsafe so you will do your usual 100% parenting and make it work. Then he will seize on any happy moments and take them as proof that the whole thing was a great idea. I really feel for you.

CharlotteCollins · 05/07/2014 23:40

I also reckon that he will sit down for brunch and (having slept on the plane while you couldn't) remember some important work calls he needs to make, leaving you in charge of the DCs with very little to entertain them.

(Years of this, I endured. It ground me down, bit by bit.)

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 23:41

why is it more likely that he was cunning and devious enough to plan this surprise purely so he would fool their kids into seeing him as 'the good guy' and OP as a miserable party-pooper? that would make him one hell of a bastard, possibly be a major 'red flag'... here's an idea - maybe he genuinely thought it would go down well with everyone? maybe he's totally clueless and actually thought he was doing a great thing?

vicmackie · 05/07/2014 23:51

maybe he's totally clueless

OP gave him a clue - a really detailed, long, clearly explained clue - ten weeks ago.

CharlotteCollins · 05/07/2014 23:55

In which case, Vampyre, the question becomes, how does OP live successfully with a DH who is persistently, totally clueless.

LesserOfTwoWeevils · 05/07/2014 23:55

Except, Vampyre, that only two months ago he did exactly the same thing with puppygate and had the consequences pointed out to him.

Those included having to disappoint his DDs by explaining that no, they couldn't have the puppy he had promised them, as well as the OP's extreme displeasure and her telling him she felt she was being disrespected and not being treated like a partner andhe was damaging their relationship.

He was so devastated at upsetting everyone through his thoughtlessness and self-centredness that a month later....he booked a holiday without mentioning it to her or giving a moment's thought to whether it would actually be enjoyable for her or any other member of the family.

The most charitable possible explanation is that he's a manchild and massively hard work for his DW.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 23:56

fair enough but on this occasion, wouldn't he have realised that OP was disappointed about not going on holiday due to lack of money and upon getting his hands on some cash from his parents thought 'problem solved'...

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 23:57

i haven't read this infamous puppy thread, btw...

Greenrexine · 05/07/2014 23:58

Did his parents not caution him when they parted with the money, or did they sanction this ill thought out surprise?

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 05/07/2014 23:59

you should, Vampyre

there are links upthread here

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 23:59

well, I suppose she could leave him for being clueless but we all have our flaws.

Lweji · 05/07/2014 23:59

And he sat on it for a month because he knew it would make Tea angry. No other reason why he should do it.

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 05/07/2014 23:59

\link{http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/2059036-AIBU-or-is-DH-So-angry-and-frustrated\here it is}

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 06/07/2014 00:01

weevils if that's the most charitable (and probably most accurate) explanation then what are you saying are other possibilities, exactly? that he's in some way abusive? as far as I can see so far, OP has maintained that their relationship is mostly good.

Lweji · 06/07/2014 00:03

He doesn't have to be abusive for Tea to be unhappy.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 06/07/2014 00:03

i can imagine that if you work very long hours, there is a danger of losing touch a bit with the people you live with. not saying this applies to everyone but the coming home loaded with gifts etc just seems like an ill-thought out desire to please.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 06/07/2014 00:03

but tea seems to have said that she's normally happy.

Lweji · 06/07/2014 00:04

Not when he unloads yet more work on her, or a puppy or ill thought out holidays.

Trollsworth · 06/07/2014 00:05

There is no 'best of this', he has selfishly signed you up for an unsuitable venue, for an unsuitable length of time, while your children are at an unsuitable age for travelling to foreign countries, at an unsuitable time of night.

I honestly would refuse point blank to go. Make him take the girls - he promised them the fucking stupid 'holiday', the onus is on him to make it happen. You don't need to disappoint them, just explain that "the babies are too young and will be very unhappy on the plane, so i am going to stay at home with them while daddy takes you on holiday, hooray! Isn't that a good idea daddy?"