Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

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

Paying for a babysitter but husband staying in!

88 replies

TortoiseInAShell · 27/11/2014 01:46

I am SAHM for medical reasons, and use up a lot of my precious savings each week to pay for a half day free from childcare each week.

I do this because DH complains that he is too tired after working full-time, and he looks to me to be there all the time for the kids, but I have MS so get horrible symptoms and desperately fatigued, and need a break once in a while.

I make sure my break is when DH is at work, so it doesn't affect him. But recently he changed his work schedule and was off. He complained all morning about our teething toddler being a "pain in the arse" while we tried to get some Christmas shopping done, but then when the paid help arrived in the afternoon, he chose to stay at home and help the babysitter!

He knows she doesn't need his help; she's a professional and has been working for us for a very long time now. So I ended up paying for my DH and a babysitter to look after DC while I got a rest, when DH could have easily done it by himself and saved me the cash.

For some reason I am hopping mad about it and I can't fully explain why.
I know we should be free to choose our own path and I should probably have just been grateful for the opportunity to have my own break for a few hours, and that I should let him make his own decisions freely. But it peeves me that he complains about looking after them and then chooses to - with someone else! BTW, I don't suspect any foul play there, but it annoys me that I've paid a lot of money for no good reason. I felt a bit betrayed in a funny kind of way and can't really explain why.

Can anyone shed any light on it, from an outside perspective?

OP posts:
TortoiseInAShell · 27/11/2014 18:17

Earth days and poppy fields - your two posts made me cry! It's true, all of what you say is how I feel deep down and I express it by being angry with him. But he seems to think an apology changes it all without a change of behaviour.

One of the things that makes my MS symptoms a lot worse is emotional stress and I just don't know how I would handle the acute stress of a break up that I've initiated, for either myself or two dear children that are upset when DH is even at work each day! It feels easier to cope with the little nips of a dog than the big chunk of a lion's jaw.

Whenever I have said I don't feel supported he denies it vehemently, he just doesn't see it at all. He makes all the right noises about partners being equal and having freedom, but when it comes down to my need for rest he says it isn't obvious and that I should tell him. However I think it would depress me to constantly have to report how shit it is to have MS in my body. He knows my symptoms and he knows they don't get better, so I can't understand why he wants me to keep on telling him the same thing. I'm not sure I can face a life that depressing and I wish I just changed colour so the more obvious to other people that I feel like the room is spinning, or that my face is numb, or that my hands can't open the milk carton, or that I can't feel my leg properly. I try not to dwell on it for my own mental health.

OP posts:
TortoiseInAShell · 27/11/2014 18:20

I think I'd have no choice but to leave then, ssd.

OP posts:
dailygrowl · 27/11/2014 18:31

Sorry I only just saw the bit about you paying for childcare from your savings, OP - and you with MS and unable to work! Ok, that is not on - your husband should be paying all of the childcare. There's something not right here - even if you have a lot of savings, they should be remain saved up in case you have medical costs further down the line for yourself as well as providing for you when you're older.

I'm sorry, but a real man does not make his wife who has a medical condition do that; he should provide for his family, including paying the childcare. I hope things can be sorted out.

EverythingsRunningAway · 27/11/2014 18:35

The point is that you wouldn't be able to leave then.

You'd be even more stuck than you are now.

If he doesn't agree with "farming out" your children, then in what sense is this situation of you being a SAHM not of his choosing.

It sounds to me like your diagnosis has worked out great for him - he gets what he wants, makes zero allowances for you, and he gets to act all out upon for his heroism in working full time.

Pico2 · 27/11/2014 18:46

I know we should be free to choose our own path and I should probably have just been grateful for the opportunity to have my own break for a few hours, and that I should let him make his own decisions freely.

That isn't how being in a family or partnership works. Decisions are made together or considering the other.

GarlicNovember · 27/11/2014 19:42

Poppy's post was superb. I'm very sorry it made you cry, Tortoise. We humans are very, very good at reframing our realities - denying the undeniably bad parts, justifying & excusing the bad behaviours, looking on the bright side of a dull picture. But, deep inside, we always know the truth. I think this is why an unbiased third-party perspective can make us sad: a combination of disappointment (in our misperception) and relief (at having our truth validated.) I feel for you.

More than this, though, I feel very anxious for your future. You're being treated unfairly - exploited, actually - by the person in whom you trust & confide. You don't really need me to highlight the dangers, to both your health and your finances, in this.

Are there any reliable people in your life, with whom you can discuss this honestly & pragmatically?

EarthDays · 27/11/2014 19:54

I'm sorry it made you cry, I just wanted to say that a marriage is team effort, it's about caring for your partner and being there for them and you deserve that but you're not getting it and it's awful.

Phineyj · 27/11/2014 19:56

Could you get some advice from the MS Society? I have a feeling you are probably not the first person to be diagnosed with MS and then realise your Dh is a selfish toerag Sad

www.nationalmssociety.org/NationalMSSociety/media/MSNationalFiles/Documents/SelfAdvocacyFamilyPacket.pdf

TortoiseInAShell · 27/11/2014 22:30

Yes it is hard to try to be positive and perhaps even deny what's really happening so as to cope with it, and definitely I cried with sadness at the truth of what I am hearing but also a huge relief that validates my feels deep down about my experience too.
So although I cried I appreciate your candid kindness.

The MS society website looks very informative, but I can't get the links to work on my phone so will have to wait until I can get to a normal computer. But the topic headings look really pertinent to the issue and I will have a look as soon as I can, thank you.

OP posts:
PoppyField · 27/11/2014 22:46

Sorry I made you cry OP, but maybe your situation is becoming clearer to you.

It's always clearer from outside (ie where I am) because you're in the fog of this and it is hard to see when you're right in the middle, what has been happening to you. Certainly you make it clear in your OP that you know something is not right, you just can't put your finger on it. This is you listening to your gut and your gut is right. Good, you still have that. But your lack of clarity shows that you have been worked on and conditioned to expect bad treatment and criticism, so much so that you are not sure what is being done to you and how bad it is. I have been there. You start to doubt yourself - he is whittling away at your self-esteem and your boundaries. Is this bad? Am I oversensitive/unreasonable/demanding? Maybe other people would think this is ok?

Pretty soon you're crying most days and don't understand why life is so shit.

I was in this situation before splitting up with my EA XH. I would say the single biggest factor in feeling able to kick him out, hire a solicitor and then buy him out was the fact that I had my own money and savings before becoming an SAHM.

He thought he should have all the power over money and what we spent it on. He seemed to think that me opting to be an SAHM was as if I had given up all my claims to being treated as an equal partner. That is absolutely not how I went into it, but it was as if he thought I had magically signed up to his rules! He certainly thought all his opinions about childcare were 100per cent right and that I - even as the one that did all the childcare - didn't know what I was talking about, and even worse - didn't really care about my babies!

It was so unbelievable that I didn't believe it. Not until life became pretty unbearable.

Having money, to misogynist nutcases like my XH, undermines their power. They can't 'get' you. I remember suggesting 'Why don't we do up the bathroom?' - a perfectly reasonable suggestion given the state of our bathroom at the time. He screamed me down. Screamed at me 'No No No NO NO NO!' We were walking along the street on a Sunday. My DC2 was about 3 months old. I mean WTF? I didn't scream back at him. I was really shocked. It seemed like such an innocuous suggestion. I didn't quite understand the level of pure emnity that was being levelled at me. I just said (about 2 weeks later when the dust had settled) 'Ok, I'll get it done and pay it out of my savings'. Which was what I did. The bathroom's much nicer. It cost a shedload as I just wildly picked stuff in the bathroom shop whilst holding the baby and not having much time. He never said a word in praise of any of it. It was as if he was pretending the bathroom hadn't changed presumably so that no possible credit could come my way. Quite bizarre. You could tell he was supremely angry about something, but what could he be angry about? - a nice new bathroom with taps, showers etc that worked and were safe for children. He made me pay for that bathroom in more ways than one, with his turbo-charged silence.

But if I hadn't had my own money, he would have made me beg him to allow me to spend it? Our money. Of course. He would have been happy then.

I've gone on a bit. Sorry. My point is, you must listen to that bit of you that protests when he treats you with disdain or worse. You know now what he is doing. And yes! you have told him you feel unsupported, you're telling him how you're feeling and Guess What - he denies it vehemently! Oh that's ok then. He's denied that you're unsupported. Phew - that's a relief - you were just beginning to think that he was being a shit - glad he's cleared that up.

Just be aware that he doesn't seem to have your best interests at heart.

This is a horrible realisation for you and it takes a bit of time to digest.
If you have a good relationship with your mother or a close friend, do confide in them. They may well have noticed stuff that you didn't know they'd noticed. And they care about your happiness and wellbeing.

Possibly a good test is to say to him you would like the childcare to be paid for out of your family income, not your savings which are being used up unnecessarily. This might be interesting on 2 counts 1) whether or not he agrees 2) whether you decide not to ask him because you are afraid of his reaction to your suggestion. If it's 2) then examine your navel and ask yourself if it is fear that stops you? Fear of what? Temper? A Row? Intimidation? Humiliation? Belittling? Criticism?

What do you think would be his response?

thegreylady · 27/11/2014 22:52

My father , my dh1 and my dsil all had MS. Every one of them suffered levels of fatigue which made my horrendous chemotherapy pale by comparison. I thnk your husband does not fully understand your illness and how it affects every aspect of your life. I am in awe at how much you know. MS also can be exacerbated by childbirth and certainly a year is no time at all to recover. You deserve better than this.

thegreylady · 27/11/2014 22:53

That should be how much you 'do' not 'know'

Mandatorymongoose · 27/11/2014 23:39

You deserve so much better.

Childcare in my house is split like this:

DH works part time 12-40hrs per week depending on my work. I officially work full time, 40 hrs, but in practice have weeks where I work much less so he works more.

When one of is at work the other one looks after the children. DH does probably 90% of the housework and I do all the general admin, finances, schedules etc. We share the cooking.

I go the gym for a couple of hours twice a week, DH goes out to his friends for the evening 7-12ish usually once a week. If either of us want to go out on top of that we just check in with the other they don't need us and go. If I was feeling ill or tired I would tell DH and he would offer to stay in.

When we're both in the house we take equal responsibility, 'are you doing x child related job or am I? ' gets asked a lot, which works for us though I know some people would prefer to be more organised. If either of us want a break we go and hide out in the bedroom and the other keeps the DC out of the way for a while. There's no big debate about it just 'I'm off to watch netflix and chill for a bit, you ok with the DCs? '

I honestly think it's appalling your DH won't look after his own children without you there. You need a break for your physical and mental health, he should be stepping up.

Again, you deserve better.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page