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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:
noddyholder · 05/07/2014 20:55

I would try to see the good in it it is not likely he did it to piss you off.

Fluffycloudland77 · 05/07/2014 21:00

Tbh if it didn't have a dishwasher in the apartment there would be words spoken.

But yes, you ought to have been told before dc.

It's a very good job no ones passport has expired or you'd be stuffed.

gotagoldtoof · 05/07/2014 21:04

I like surprises. More than that, though, I would like a dh who is capable of planning a holiday to be suitable for the children. Sounds like he has put his own need to be fun exciting dad before the needs of the children during a trip abroad. That's the problem.

fruitpastille · 05/07/2014 21:07

Organise for PIL to join you on the holidat so they can help (or your mum). Tell him about it on the way to the airport. As a nice surprise.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 21:07

yeah what a bastard, even though he didn't cheat or hurt anyone etc he booked a fucking holiday?! there are no words Hmm

get why you're pissed off but unless I've missed something I think some of these responses are laughable.

vicmackie · 05/07/2014 21:09

unless I've missed something

Yeah you have missed something. Namely the entire point.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 21:11

and who cares about stairs fgs?! i live in a 2nd floor flat and have 3 young children. seriously, not the end of the world. OP has said she genuinely believes his intentions were good but still, people are so desperate to insist that he's an utter bastard.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 21:12

how sharp.

noddyholder · 05/07/2014 21:13

What is the entire point? He seems to have been a bit thoughtless although as OP was disappointed and loves to get away he probably thought she would be over the moon. People can get it wrong without being utter bastards and holidays with insurance can be cancelled if its a huge deal.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 21:16

nooo, the entire point noddy, is that this thread is lacking excitement if he simply got it wrong. it has to be more sinister than that, you see Hmm

JohnFarleysRuskin · 05/07/2014 21:17

Fucking hell - people must be in desperate, desperate relationships if they just grab on little crumbs like this and think he is some kind of golden god.

After the puppy fiasco, where he ignored her completely, he promised to consider her in future. How is this considering her? It's not even his own money fgs!

I don't think he's a bastard, no one said that, but many of us are in equal relationships and not treated like a child/staff- unbelievable eh?!

JohnFarleysRuskin · 05/07/2014 21:17

Wow, he didn't cheat. Give the guy a medal!

Bowlersarm · 05/07/2014 21:18

Agree vampyre, poor bloke.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 21:19

well done for deliberately misinterpreting me there, fantastic job! just to clarify what I meant - some of the OTT responses here are hardly different to the justified responses on a thread where someone's partner is cheating. and it was his money because his parents gave it to him.

Lweji · 05/07/2014 21:24

Coming late to this, but I think you have every right to be furious with him. I know I would.
Particularly after the puppy.

Anyway, I think you have to set this as the last time he does something like this. Make it very clear to him what the consequences will be if he does it again.

And on holiday, leave him with the babies and make him cook and clean. You are on holiday and you didn't book it.

noddyholder · 05/07/2014 21:24

I am in an equal relationship certainly not treated like staff and I have made the odd mistake over the last 23 years where I have thought something was a good idea and maybe it wasn't! But thats life and guess what you can TALK about these things and explain why you are upset about it without it being the end of the world. Where did anyone refer to him as a golden god and why do you define people who are prepared to give the benefit of the doubt as grabbing on little crumbs. You can be pissed off with your dp/dh without it being divorce courts

TheOneWithTheNicestSmile · 05/07/2014 21:25

His parents gave it to him for a holiday for them

As the primary carer of 4 kids including baby twins, OP should have had the chance to choose more suitable flight times & accommodation

HumphreyCobbler · 05/07/2014 21:25

He has form for not consulting her about important stuff. He promised not to do it again. He has done it again.

He is very very annoying and I would be livid.

HumphreyCobbler · 05/07/2014 21:26

Honestly, who in their right minds would choose 1am as an appropriate flight time with four under ten year olds, two of whom are babies?

JohnFarleysRuskin · 05/07/2014 21:27

I don't think the responses have been ott, there's been no ltb, swearing or calls to get some space! It's a normal problem, not (IMHO) or most peoples I'm sure, a marriage- ending problem, but it IS a problem nevertheless.

I hope the parents consider going with, as a surprise, as pp said.

JohnFarleysRuskin · 05/07/2014 21:28

Eh, did I miss the people suggesting divorce?

Someone did say he was a 'gold husband!'

LongTimeLurking · 05/07/2014 21:29

I do understand the OP's point of view here and why you would be upset. However I can't help but feel you come across as a little ungrateful and almost determined that the holiday wont work simply because you have had no input in it?

He was trying to do a nice thing, OK he got it wrong but the intention was clearly right. Furthermore his parents are paying for 2/3 of the holiday so even if it isn't perfect you haven't lost too much.

Would it kill you to have strong words with him about never ever doing something like this again and then go on the damn holiday and try to enjoy it, rather than looking for problems everywhere?

Sorry but to me you do sound a tad ungrateful. I would be delighted if someone had funded and arranged a holiday for me as a surprise when I was not expecting to get one this year.

VampyreofTimeandMemory · 05/07/2014 21:29

tbf, the babies aren't going to give a shit what time their flight is.

HumphreyCobbler · 05/07/2014 21:32

She HAS had strong words. He ignored them.

The babies might not care, but their parents still have to care for them after travelling all night.

pommedeterre · 05/07/2014 21:34

So you'd be volunteering for a 1am flight with an 8 year old, a 6 year old and six month old twins then vampyre?

Not really sure it matters what the babies think but that's going to be a stinker of a journey for the parents.

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