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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:
TeaFor6 · 05/07/2014 14:15

DonkeysDontRideBicycles Yes Exactly.Blush I didn’t want to bring it up straight away in case it ‘skewed the results’ so to speak. But that was our ‘big discussion’ a few months ago

FatalCabbageWe sent off for the passports not long after registering the births. Not sure why really it just seemed like a sensible thing to have them ready and the application out of the way so it was all sorted when "we" (ha!) did come to plan a holiday

i have managed to say to him most of what I put in my OP and I did think about sending him an email with my thoughts put down more coherently. But right now it just feels like whats the point? Sad We've had similar conversations before and it just doesn't seem to get through to him.

I know i'd feel better if iwas less uptight and more relaxed about the details but that is easier said then done with the 4 kids under 10

OP posts:
FunkyBoldRibena · 05/07/2014 14:15

My OH got up one morning a couple of weeks ago and said 'I nearly booked us a holiday last night' and I hit the roof! And that was nearly.

I told him in no uncertain terms not to book anything without checking with me etc etc; and if he had have booked it, I already had tickets that week to see my favourite band so I'd have been absolutely hopping. And I have no ambition to go to fucking the place he was going to book in the first place.

JohnFarleysRuskin · 05/07/2014 14:17

I would be annoyed. Especially telling me the same time as the kids. Its not about 'how it looks', its just, hmmm.

Especially choosing a family holiday without me. (As pp said, its not a romantic weekend in a hotel)

Especially only three weeks notice - when there could have been seven weeks.

I would feel guilty about it, but yes, I would feel unempowered(?)

GobblersKnob · 05/07/2014 14:18

I am a total control freak to a ridiculous degree, I hate surprises with a passion, but if Dp had done this I would do my utmost to swallow all of that and try to receive it in the spirit out had been given.

HerRoyalNotness · 05/07/2014 14:18

nun that would tip me over the edge with someone ending up in a&e. How dare he!

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 05/07/2014 14:19

Giving someone a surprise can be "very" thoughtful. My DH went to great lengths to get me a car as a surprise after checking casually for 6 months what type of things were important to me

I did a surprise party fir his 30th birthday

Wow - what a pair if controlling bastards we are. Lucky we ended up tight her. I guess the right response would have been fir me to throw the car back in his face and for him to have strapped out if the house at my infantilising of him

TeaFor6 · 05/07/2014 14:20

Goblin Sorry, didn't mean to casue any upset. And I take your point. I know he means well (as do his parents). And I will make the effort to enjoy the holiday no matter what and i'm sure it will be lovely. I'm just frustrated with him not thinking things through again. But maybe thats just the difference in our personalities? (He has always been the impulsive one)

OP posts:
FatalCabbage · 05/07/2014 14:21

Then the point is "You don't care what I think". Which is not a small thing.

JohnFarleysRuskin · 05/07/2014 14:21

But its a surprise that involves a massive amount of work for her.

Its not a holiday, really, is it? Yes, for the kids, but not for her.

"Heyyy, I've paid loads of money you didn't know we had and we're going to have to stay awake all night, then you're going to have to cook, clean, look after the kids as usual but somewhere else, (probably without a washing machine or dishwasher!) but you'd better be as delighted about it as the children because it's a holiday and a surprise."

pommedeterre · 05/07/2014 14:22

1am fly out? I wouldn't go.

This is controlling and dis empowering.

I would be livid too.

Thumbwitch · 05/07/2014 14:22

Tea - don't feel the need to apologise! Gobbolino is taking all this far too personally for no reason whatsoever. Your situation is not hers, and hers is not yours.

JohnFarleysRuskin · 05/07/2014 14:23

It's different to a car. Its different to a party. It's different to a romantic night away.

It's a family holiday with 2 kids and 2 6 month old twins. That alone makes me feel anxious!!

BeCool · 05/07/2014 14:23

He could have surprised the OP in a really lovely way by saying "my parents have given us money to fund an overseas holiday this year. Where shall we go? What shall we do? I can't wait to see the kids faces when we tell them!"

And treated the situation intelligently and his DW as an adult partner.

pommedeterre · 05/07/2014 14:23

goblin - your surprises don't involve work for one of the recipients. It's not the same.

Mydelilah · 05/07/2014 14:24

Your DH and PILs have tried to do something to make you and your DCs happy. I agree the way DH has approached this is not ideal for you but he did not intend any malice.

He should learn from this and involve you in the future, but for now you have a nice holiday planned and if I were you I would throw myself into having a great time with my family

JohnFarleysRuskin · 05/07/2014 14:25

Y Y, Becool.

BuggersMuddle · 05/07/2014 14:25

A number of years ago when we had limited funds, my parents gave me some money to book a holiday. It was a nice surprise and unexpected, but we still sat down and chose it together.

So while I think the gift from parents mitigates things slightly, at the very least he should have told you before DC.

Nuny That is awful, sorry. He spent your money - money that was meant to replace your things with something that was for his benefit too, without your input? That would actually be a deal breaker for me.

Everard · 05/07/2014 14:26

I get that he took a big decision without you.

I get that you feel undermined.

I get that he spent money (albeit with a huge input from his parents) without your agreement.

I get that you don't like surprises.

All of the above, I agree would make me very cross too.

BUT to all those saying don't go on the holiday just to spite him? Words fail. At least, they don't, I can think of plenty of words to describe you but they would not be polite. No wonder so many relationships break down if that is your response to what was a well intentioned gesture.

OP: go, enjoy your holiday. In a way, I am a tiny bit jealous. I think you are right, it is as much the shock as anything that is making you cross now. I think in time you will come to forgive your husband for his behaviour.

Pasithea · 05/07/2014 14:27

Would swap places anytime for a H that does that, four kids and 2 careers.

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 05/07/2014 14:30

tea - I do see your point very much re the organisation. I only have an 18 month old and a 5 month old and we're staying at home this year after two "holidays" with DS last year

So, I think it is absolutely imperative that your DH shares in the packing and all the buying and general organisation before you go.

Plus, DH should go out in the mornings etc and get the rolls etc for breakfast each day. Or you go of you prefer Grin

I do think it would be totally unfair if he didn't do that.

BeCool · 05/07/2014 14:30

OP I would be furious and upset it too. But I would eventually get over it and i would go on the holiday with my family.

But I would be starting to feel like there are some big holes unravelling in my relationship that he wasn't willing or able to address.

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 05/07/2014 14:30

All other meals should beaten out bar breakfast!

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 05/07/2014 14:31

I'd be livid too, I would also hate a surprise birthday party or a car being bought for me. We're a partnership, the big things are decided together not sprung on one another.

StandsOnGoldenSands · 05/07/2014 14:33

What is puppygate please ?

BrunoBrookesDinedAlone · 05/07/2014 14:33

He doesn't mean well.

That's the problem.

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