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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

Election has sparked a whole new cascade of shit

60 replies

rocket74 · 12/05/2015 16:13

Hi I don't want to drip feed and I can clearly see the situation (finally) but I just need to fucking vent and there is no one I can talk to without it back firing on me.
Since last weeks election announcement (joint disappointment in our house) DH has been getting more and more worked up and posting and sharing everything on FB. Naturally not everyone agrees - clearly- given the results but it it creating a real sense of unease and I can see his rage simmering. One of my best and oldest friends posted something that contradicted him and he has been slagging her off constantly to me since. Picking over everything she posts ... He has been critical of her a lot recently and will take any opportunity to have a dig at her lifestyle.(well off).
He will take any chance to take a dig at a friend - a few in particular for no reason other than some misguided notion they may have once let me down or perceives them as being devious or totally self interested or greedy.

I'm not well today so have managed to find time to read the Lundy Bancroft book I have hidden away as I am aware that what he does is emotional abuse but just trying to work out how to get out of this. Page 31 did it for me. His emotions fill the whole house.
I can't really confide in anyone as they will act differently around him and that is a red light to him. Hence why he has decided to try and decimate my opinion of my best friend whom may have been a bit cool with him a while ago. We've been friends for nearly 30 years now so bloody fecking politics is not going to change anything.
I have un friended her on his FB page so he won't see any more posts and I'm not going to use FB on the computer anymore so he won't see her on my page but this is so ridiculous. In the past he's been snipy about members of my family as well and been instrumental in making those relationships difficult at times.

They and I are always wrong and he is always right and feels he has to share this knowledge with everyone so that they will do it or think it his way next time.

Thanks for listening and sorry if a garbled mess as on phone. Vent over.

OP posts:
minkGrundy · 15/05/2015 18:07

do we have to go through this on every DA thread. He is putting his kids through this.

Reddragon116 · 16/05/2015 00:23

As the other parent with the power to change things there does come a point where the op or any other parent DOES start to be responsible for what her or his children are experiencing and havong modeled to them . Its not victim blaming it parental responsiblity. I also suspect that adhd aside your childs behaviour would improve substatially if removed from this stress, choas and drama. Adhd needs calm and structure, strategies of impluse controll being exampled by parents and consistant parenting for best long term outcomes.

minkGrundy · 16/05/2015 00:42

It is victim blaming.

Reddragon116 · 16/05/2015 06:59

So Mink - at what point does a parents responsibly stop to protect their child when they are also a victim? It is a very difficult subject - ea and dv become normalised for victims to cope and the destruction of ego is merciless. But if you know your children are being harmed and you have the means to change that ? It is possible to be a victim and also an enabler in my mind - I am perhaps very wrong ?

Coyoacan · 16/05/2015 14:38

So mink, you don't think we should remind the OP of her responsibility to her children here? The OP is not helpless or underage.

D0oinMeCleanin · 16/05/2015 14:58

What Mink said.

DA, particularly EA, although there is rarely DV without EA, changes the way you think, the way you perceive things.

It obliterates your sense of self, your confidence and your perception of what is normal. You know what is going on is wrong, but until you are out and recovering you cannot quite grasp just how wrong it is. On top of all of that you are constantly mentally exhausted from it.

It's very easy from the outside to look in and say what needs to be done, but when you are going through it, it can feel impossible.

On top of all that you have the abuser throwing you just enough niceness to have you question yourself constantly.

The only person responsible for what OP's children are seeing is the abuser.

OP, I agree you cannot just pack up and leave, but don't plan for too long.

I would go and talk to CAB and ask them what, if any, support would be available to you. You don't have to act on it straight away, but it is a start. Take things one step at a time, rather than looking at the whole process of ending the relationship if that makes things easier for you. The first step being CAB.

It is easier living without a man like this in your life. I know you think you know that, but I'm sure if you are honest, fear is part or even most of what is holding you back, as opposed to needing to plan and that's okay, that's normal, but don't let that fear paralyse you. Start your plan on monday, one step at a time.

A lot of posters on MN would do well to remember OP is already being told it is her fault at home, hearing it on MN will not help give her the strength and confidence to see her plan through. This man has had 14 years to convince her that she is not good enough. That's a lot of damage, it cannot be undone because a stranger on MN said LTB.

Coyoacan · 16/05/2015 15:15

Are we saying it is her fault? Or are we saying that removing the children from this situation as soon as possible is her responsability?

Reddragon116 · 16/05/2015 15:25

There have been over the years ALOT pf women who have realised from this board the damage that ea and dv does to their children - alot of them have done somthing about it.

D0oinMeCleanin · 16/05/2015 15:37

Both partners have a responsibility both to the children and each other. OP's abuser is failing on both scores and in doing so is causing OP's confidence in herself to suffer. The fact that she feels responsible for finding him somewhere to go to, just shows that he has already convinced her that she is responsible for his happiness and therefore his unhappiness.

As another poster said, OP needs to make a plan that she feels safe and comfortable with and if that is taking time and finding him somewhere to go, then that is what must happen.

The only thing I'd be wary of OP is if you find him somewhere, what will you do if he won't go? You may find you end up being responsible for 2 homes and still stuck with him. A better course of action might to be talk to CAB and a local housing adviser and find out how much money he will need and how long it would take for him to find somewhere and make it habitable (eg furnished to the point that he can eat and sleep there)

Is there a reason why you cannot find somewhere? It might be a bit easier, is all I am thinking.

It's all well and good to out the responsibility of leaving on the victim, but it's not really helpful is it? OP knows she needs to leave and I am sure she already feels guilty enough for having stayed as long as she has and for not being able to fix this overnight.

The best thing outsiders can do is give her the support she needs to leave without blaming her or making her responsible for her children's suffering. She is not. The abuser is.

As soon as possible, can only be as soon as the OP feels strong enough, jumping up and down and telling her she is failing her children will not add to that strength.

The more support and less blame she is given, the sooner that time may come.

Lweji · 16/05/2015 16:05

OP, it's not your fault that he is abusing you and the children.

But, it's your responsibility to protect the children. And yourself.

In the same way that it's your responsibility to feed them, send them to school, make sure they sleep and are clean.

The question is, what are you going to do about it? When? How?

HE is NOT your responsibility. HE is and ADULT.

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