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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

I am interested in advice especially from men

403 replies

midlifehope · 04/06/2015 17:04

I have a problem in that I feel I am pulling the weight of 2 people in my family. I have ds aged 3 and am pregnant. I work 3-4 days a week. Ds is in nursery or with dp when I work. However I also end up doing 95% of domestic stuff. Dp doesn't work having
recently taken voluntary redundancy and bought a yacht! He has way more leisure time than me and I am feeling incredibly resentful. Howdo I get him to change. I don't want to ltb Jesuits

OP posts:
Lweji · 05/06/2015 11:22
Littleham · 05/06/2015 11:30

I agree with writing out a list of tasks & dividing them up. My dh and I did this when we moved in with each other. What we found helpful was to have a couple of get out of jail free cards each.

So.....

I hate ironing, mowing the lawn and DIY. He does these jobs.
He hates sewing, shopping for kids and organising / finances. I do these jobs.
Everything else is split 50 /50 (unless someone is ill). Every so often we check with each other that the division of labour works and other half is happy.

So for example, I cook half the meals and he does the other half. Ferrying the kids around is split 50/ 50.

You badly need to come to some sort of agreement. You should have done this at the beginning but it isn't too late to try. Smile

JoshL · 05/06/2015 11:31

cailindana

"Off topic I know but what I'm wondering is, why so many men seem to need help from women in order to become functioning adults? What is it about women that means they don't tend to need any help? Is it that our ovaries give us access to some secret knowledge about ironing?"

It can work both ways - see my post referencing DIY/decorating. If it's allowed to happen, it will happen.

cailindana · 05/06/2015 11:35

It can work both ways Josh definitely but it seems to work the one way (ie men not doing anything and women being advised to 'help' them) a lot more often. Besides some DIY stuff is specialist and doesn't happen often, you can call people in to do it for you, but really washing dishes and doing laundry isn't hard, it's just boring - why is it that so many men struggle with it?

JoshL · 05/06/2015 11:56

cailindana

You were probably on the right track with magic ovaries ;)

No, you're right that housework-y stuff does seem to be more of an issue for most households, and I don't mean to undermine that. I can only articulate my own experiences, and what I believe to be an unfair distribution of work (just as my DW wasn't born knowing how to iron, I wasn't born knowing how to work a lawn strimmer - we can both learn these things).

I suppose it comes down to how prepared one person is to let another do most of the work, and if we think that's more of a male than female problem?

cailindana · 05/06/2015 12:45

It's certainly the case that housework is considered by our society, in general, to be women's work and there is a lot more women's work in a household, usually, than men's work.

Miggsie · 05/06/2015 12:52

There is almost nothing on earth that will turn a man who thinking all housework is for women to do into a man who will do housework.

He has retired - you are never allowed to retire, because you are a woman, he won't even see a problem with the current set up - he believes he can criticise you for not doing the housework while doing nothing himself.

Sorry - you just found out your man is a sexist arse.

flatbellyfella · 05/06/2015 12:53

Because his mum was a slave to her wheelchair bound husband, & did the total work around the house, the self centred, selfish sailor, has it in his head that it's your duty to do the same for him, he obviously resented having to help his father, as a youngster. Was he such a lazy uncaring person right from the start of your one sided relationship midlifehope ? He certainly needs updating on how partners behave, partners should mean equal shares in everything . Get him to read your Posting & see how out of line he is, we can't all be wrong in condemning his outdated opinions & behavior towards you & the children.

pompodd · 05/06/2015 13:01

OP, I'm a man and happy to share my view on it.

We're obviously all trying to piece a picture together from what you've shared in your posts. But what I see is a man who is (or at least he feels he is) at a different stage of life to you.

You have a very young child and another one on the way. For most right-thinking adults that means there are years ahead of hard work, sacrifice, making ends meet and all the rest of it. However, he has taken voluntary redundancy, isn't looking for a job to replace it and has bought a yacht. If you had a few million tucked away in the bank between you then that might be fine, but I'm assuming you don't. Did you not discuss with him what his plans were following the redundancy? It feels from your posts like he decided he wanted to early retire, has done that and the impact on you and the children was then an afterthought.

I can't really imagine how that situation could come about in a normal and functioning relationship. So that leads me to think that this guy is hugely selfish and, given his age and apparent personality, there is no way that is going to change. I'm sorry, I know that really isn't what you want to hear.

A poster earlier in the thread said that what he needs is a shock to his system, something to shake him up. I agree with that (but perhaps not for the reasons that the other poster raised it). I struggle a bit with why you are so set against leaving this relationship. He will have to provide financial support for his children if you split up (although the fact that you are not married potentially puts you in a more precarious position financially).

Perhaps right now isn't the time to bring this to a head in terms of you actually making a decision to leave (not sure how much of your pregnancy is left). But I do think you need to make clear to him now that the status quo (and what will become the status quo when new baby arrives) is simply not acceptable and you are not prepared to continue the relationship on that basis. And set out what he needs to do - in a list if need be. I completely agree that a man should not need to be treated like a 7 year old with a reward chart. But it seems to me that you have absolutely nothing to lose at this stage of the game. And his reaction to being asked to do what he bloody well should be in the first place might help put you into the frame of mind you need to think about leaving him.

I don't suggest that because I think it is the shock that he needs, but simply because you and your children deserve better. And if he can't step up to the plate, he will have to deal with the consequences of it.

Twinklestein · 05/06/2015 13:10

I'm wondering from your username whether you met him in midlife and he was your hope of having kids?

Did you compromise on him? It may be a compromise too far...

CheersMedea · 05/06/2015 13:47

No one likes doing domestic chores. A lot of them can be outsourced if you have the money.

You say he bought "a yacht" - I don't know if that means a 155ft Sunseeker or a leaky bathtub - but it suggests you are reasonably well off. Plus you said you had a cleaner before.

Can you afford to get more help with outsourceable tasks? Like cleaning, ironing, etc etc.

JoshL · 05/06/2015 13:49

cailindana

"It's certainly the case that housework is considered by our society, in general, to be women's work and there is a lot more women's work in a household, usually, than men's work."

It depends (our house needs a lot of ongoing maintenance) but not really much to argue with there. The other point is we tend to attach much less value to what is considered "women's work".

VoyageOfDad · 05/06/2015 14:09

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AlternativeTentacles · 05/06/2015 14:30

Er, if I ever gave the impression that my wife nags me then sorry that I've not expressed myself clearly - I don't think I ever said anything of the sort.

Daddaddad - this is what you typed earlier:

So if my DW repeatedly asks me to do something, even though logically I know it's perfectly reasonable for her to repeat a request if I've still not done it, it can feel like nagging, because like other people, I suffer from pride, and get irritated being told what to do by someone else. I appreciate that's my really my problem, not my DW

I just wondered why she even has to ask twice let alone repeatedly?

JoshL · 05/06/2015 14:40

I just wondered why she even has to ask twice let alone repeatedly?

Because people have other things to do, people have busy lives, people have priorities other than housework (which include unwinding after a day at work)?

Also because she's his wife and not his boss, perhaps?

cailindana · 05/06/2015 14:43

Do you have any theory about why men care less about mess Voyage?

Twinklestein · 05/06/2015 14:55

Because people have other things to do, people have busy lives, people have priorities other than housework (which include unwinding after a day at work)?

And you don't think his wife has other things to do, busy life, priorities other than housework...? But yet she on top of all that, she has repeatedly to ask her husband to do things which should be done without asking...

Twinklestein · 05/06/2015 14:57

Voyage's theory isn't even accurate. Some men run clean and neat houses, a bit military as it were.

I don't buy that men are inherently slobbish, it's just an excuse from the lazy ones.

DadDadDad · 05/06/2015 15:02

JoshL - exactly.

Scenario:
(Upstairs)
DW: I'm doing a wash, can you strip the bedding and bring it down?
Me: (currently mopping the bathroom floor) OK
(Later, downstairs)
DW: I asked if you could bring the bedding down. Oh, and could you empty the kitchen bin?
Me: (Because I'm human and can be irritable, and maybe have just had an argument with my DS about doing his homework, and selfishly I'd rather be sitting down and reading MN, I FEEL like it's nag, although it's clearly not, so as an adult, I put that aside) OK, sorry.
(Put the bin out, get distracted by DD wanting me to play a game with her).
DW: Bedding!
Me: On it! (gets bedding)

  1. I don't know how it works in your home, but sometimes one person sees a job that needs doing and asks someone else to do it. That doesn't mean the other person is a lazy slob.
  2. I don't really consider that nagging, I'm just being honest about my internal response.
Tequilashotfor1 · 05/06/2015 15:05

Well the fact he bought a fucking yacht would show me he is a selfish twat!

Tequilashotfor1 · 05/06/2015 15:06

Wow dad your DW sounds like a hard task master - poor you!

VoyageOfDad · 05/06/2015 15:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JoshL · 05/06/2015 15:31

And you don't think his wife has other things to do, busy life, priorities other than housework...? But yet she on top of all that, she has repeatedly to ask her husband to do things which should be done without asking...

Housework isn't always everybody's priority, every second of every day. You can't assume that, because DadDadDad doesn't jump to attention to his DW's orders, that must mean he's on the PlayStation. He might have other things to do, and the house isn't going to burn down because the bedding hasn't been changed.

Aside from a quite a large portion of the housework, I have a number of DIY/decorating tasks which my DW simply does not raise a finger to do. These are much harder work than washing clothes or dishes, but I don't get any help with these, and DW certainly won't do them "without asking".

Tequilashotfor1 · 05/06/2015 15:48

Sad face Sad

JoshL · 05/06/2015 15:52

Tequilashotfor1

Really generating sympathy for the poor, horribly overworked yet saintly DWs there, aren't you?

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