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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

Is it ever ok.....

39 replies

NoMoreForMeSir · 11/01/2015 14:48

To leave a relationship because you are no longer in love? I have NC for this btw. There are dc involved and so I am really struggling with making a decision on whether to leave the relationship. I know I am no longer in love with my partner, they still love me however and will be devastated.

We have different views and goals in life and there is no compromising (partner is very set in their ways and will not discuss anything they don't want to do) and I am finding this very difficult to live with.

There have been ups and downs that we have survived, but I am now feeling totally trapped. Partner is a wonderful person, but just not the person for me, however, I keep thinking I should stay for the dc. The relationship could rub along ok if I stayed and dc and partner would be very happy and who am I to ruin so many lives? So is it ever ok to leave because you are no longer in love?

Sorry for lack of specifics, don't want to out myself.

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 11/01/2015 20:25

DCs will only blame you if you behave badly, create a bad atmosphere, make life difficult for them or your ex partner, lie, obstruct etc. And that would apply whether you are together or apart. If you and your partner can accept it has come to an end and, even though you are sad or upset, remain civil and cooperative where the children are concerned, they are more likely to adapt well to the new circumstances.

rb32 · 12/01/2015 12:37

I do feel sorry for your partner in that he won't be able to live with his child and yours (whom he has presumably grown close too).

However, on balance, it's much better for everyone if you leave as otherwise nobody is going to be living in a happy household.

NoMoreForMeSir · 12/01/2015 18:02

That's my main problem rb32, I don't want to separate dc from my partner. I am considering staying for that reason. If I can pretend I'm happy then everyone else will be.

OP posts:
GaryShitpeas · 12/01/2015 18:07

Of course it's ok op

NoMoreForMeSir · 12/01/2015 18:14

Rb32 is correct though, forcing my dc and partner to live apart when neither has done anything wrong is a terrible thing. However, it would also kill me to give my partner full custody of our dc, but would that be the fair thing to do? It's not their fault I am no longer in love.

It's so hard, I can't even bear to be touched by my partner at the moment.

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rb32 · 13/01/2015 09:27

NoMoreForMeSir - Could you give your partner full custody? Would he even want it? I've got to say, I'm impressed you're considering it. Staying with him for that reason won't work though will it?

saltedcaramelicious · 13/01/2015 09:41

Why don't you think about 50/50 custody? I have been in your exact situation and ended relationship for similar reasons. I too was so guilty about ex not seeing our dc as much as he used to, so 50/50 has worked really well for everyone concerned Smile

NoMoreForMeSir · 13/01/2015 09:52

I'd be willing to do 50/50 custody definitely as dc and partner would benefit immensely, but I am not sure partner would want to live in this area as it is not where they are originally from. Their friends and family are quite a distance from where we live now.

I don't think my partner would be happy with full custody as they would want dc to see me frequently, it is something we've had fleeting conversations about in the past.

OP posts:
NoMoreForMeSir · 13/01/2015 09:54

I'm just trying to think of all options and scenarios.

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CrispsAreFruit · 13/01/2015 09:58

Hi NoMore, sorry that you are going through this, your pain and worry cones through so clearly.

You make no gender references in
any of your posts and i know that shouldn't make a difference but could i as if you are male or female and is your partner male or female?

DougalTheCheshireCat · 13/01/2015 10:00

NoMoreFor just to add. if you stay, and pretend, to 'make everyone else happy', it won't work in the long run. Your unhappiness will seep out, your children (and DH) will feel it, it will be everywhere.

My mum stayed in an unhappy marriage for a very long time. For different reasons, she was afraid to leave (cares a lot what other people think, saw it as failure) and, also, she wanted to work and change things, she wanted my Dad to love her differently / better. He is an emotionally closed person who burried himself in his work and cared for, and even noticed her, less and less as time went on.

Through my teenage years the dynamics between them got more and more obvious, and made home life more and more uncomfortable and unhappy. I couldn't wait to leave home, which I did at 18, and spent as little time as possible there from then on.

You don't say how old your children are. Possibly divorce is harder on young children. Possibly. So you might consider giving it a little more time until you think they are better able to cope. But the older they get, the more they will feel and see the dynamic of your unhappy relationship. And now you have worked out what is really going on, it will be harder, over time impossible, to hide. Kids know when something is wrong. And it is unsettling for them to know that and be told that everything is ok when they sense that it isn't.

I think it is possible to leave and have that be the best outcome for everyone, if, as others have said, you work hard to keep it civil, work out custody, visiting and access that works best for everyone. If you accept their upset and anger. And, crucially, if you take responsibility for your choices and your feelings and seek the support you will need from your friends, adult family and or a counsellor, not your children.

My mum did eventually leave when I was in my 20s. She lent on me and my siblings a lot then, probably too much, for emotional support - she seeking for us to parent her. She does not truly take responsibility for her own choices (e.g. she has told me many times that she would have left much earlier but 'couldn't because she had young children' obviously the implication here is it is our fault she spent so long in an unhappy marriage. This is untrue. She didn't leave because she wasn't ready to, but giving an external reason is a great way to avoid taking responsibility for that choice).

She is also a walking example of the maxim 'women in unhappy marriages fixate on their children.' Even as my siblings and i became adults she was overly involved and invested in our lives as some kind of 'compensation' for her 'sacrifice'.

Her staying did not make us, her children, 'happy'. On the contrary I have spent a while as an adult working through the legacy of growing up in the middle of an unhappy relationship and redrawing some healthier boundaries between the two of us.

rb32 · 13/01/2015 10:14

50/50 would be fine. It'll be a big change for all of you but you'll get used to it and both you and your partner will have good relationships with your children. Be prepared for him to struggle to come to terms with it at first though.

NoMoreForMeSir · 13/01/2015 12:58

I am a woman, my partner is a man. Just for clarity, but I don't want to reveal the gender of my dc if that's ok.

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NoMoreForMeSir · 13/01/2015 13:18

Many thanks Dougal that was a very thoughtful and helpful post to read. When I split from my 1st dc's father I was very encouraging to him to have as much access as he could manage (he was difficult, but I tried very hard for the sake of our dc) as I really wanted them to develop a close relationship.

My dm has a friend who met her dh on the rebound and didn't really fall in love with him at all, but she worked hard on the marriage and did everything for her dc and dh. She never left and is in bits now that her dc are grown up and her and dh are on their own. She is very bitter and feels she wasted her life, especially as her dh is quite cold towards her (not her doing, she is good to him). Obviously my partner is not cold, but I don't want to end up as unhappy as she is, that scares me.

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