DH negative all the time - driving me crazy!

[ManicGirl]

His negativity around me and the kids is really starting to grate as I'm worried that they will start to view life with an equally pessimistic attitude.
He came home today and the first thing he did was moan to DS7 about someone parking illegally at work. He snipes about colleagues and moans about his job even though he likes it.
If we're out and our train is 2 minutes late he'll go off on one at the state of Britain's railways.
Today I told the kids we could have a picnic tea in a park of their choice. They chose one that is 20 minutes away and costs a total of £7 for all of us on the train. He shouted at me that I was throwing money away, we should use local park etc. He's refused to come so we're out in sun at the park and he's sat at home. It just seems endless arguments and misery.
Please tell me I'm not the only one living with a total misery guts?

This thread is a perfect example of why I will spend the rest of my life alone, because this is (almost) all a bunch of women in relationships that can't see the hypocrisy of whining and complaining about their men being whiners and complainers and when I bring it up, I get ignored. On top of that almost none of you have any interest in being understanding to what they think, feel or say. Overwhelmingly when i've heard men complain about things-they have a point so maybe some of you would just rather live in a happy, fantasy world of sunshine, unicorns and rainbows, except the world isn't like that

Since you all seem to love acronyms so much ladies, here's one for you-"GTBA"=Grateful To Be Alone

Well, carewser, on behalf of all the women who have put up with years of moaning from their other halves whilst they've tried to keep things together and provide some family fun - thank you for not inflicting yourself on us.

I think it got ignored, carewser, because it came across as a smart-aleck remark or "gotcha".

Well said Pointythings methinks a nerve has been hit after recognising himself in the thread, ahh diddums , I would wager he is a 'poor me' type too so will go off to lick his wounds now
Don't let the door bang your arse in the way out mate

I think a lot of men find family life a bit shit so you get this negativity on the back of that.

Saying that you could be talking about my mother so it’s not just blokes.

Carewser - it's not just about a male/female thing. It's about when one parents negativity/unenthusiasm impacts on children.

No, you are right and the world isn't all sunshine and unicorns and rainbows, @carewser.

But it isn't all floods, pestilence and disease, either. And if somebody focuses on those to such an extent, they make it impossible to see or enjoy what is good in the world, especially if they then try and stop other people from seeing the good things as well.

carewser That's a difference between letting off a bit of steam on an Internet forum once and constantly being negative about life.

Or can you not actually see the difference?

My dh is a negative fucker. He seems to be in some sort of victim mentality mode.

When he’s the one responsible for his own fucking happiness, not the rest of the world. Fucks sake.

But his parents are like that. For example, today, they came to visit and dd was doing her cartwheel routines or something. They kept saying “oh no, you’ll hurt yourself”.

Couldn’t bring themselves to say something nice.

Dh isn’t in a great place though so I understand. It’s definitely getting worse. But by painting himself as a passive victim in all of this, he gets nowhere.

My DH is like this! He also does the automatic 'No'. I call him 'Monsieur Non'. And he also hated my Bugaboo. My DH gets it from FIL. He's a miserable bastard as well.

My DH is a moaner sometimes. I have found the best thing is to agree that yes, it's terrible, and then change the subject. But I do have one tip: give him a time limit. Tell him that he has ten minutes to have a good moan about everything (parking, weather, Britain going to the dogs, whatever) and then he must stop. So he moans, and you don't interrupt, and he gets it off his chest. If he's still going after ten minutes, you tell him time's up, and you start talking about something else. Later, when he starts moaning again, you say No, you had your say, and you refuse to listen until the next day. This works if yiu keep at it, as they realise how ridiculous they're being.

My DH does this - his most commonly uttered phrase is "oh for fucks sake". I've told him before that he sucks the joy out of things and I think that hurt his feelings a bit because he didn't realise he was doing it. He told me his ex wife and their kids used to call him Mr No!". For him a lot of it comes from anxiety so I do sympathise to a degree but not too the point it's going to be allowed to bring me down everyday.

I sometimes do the "respond with something ridiculously more negative" thing and that usually makes him laugh and he'll stop. And sometimes I respond with over the top sympathy like "oh poor you I can't believe such a horrible fate has befallen you" if he's stuck in traffic an extra five minutes or something. It makes him realise he's being ridiculous. He's not as bad as he used to be and I think he r
had accepted that he has to make an effort. I came across this quote that I sometimes tell him when he's being negative and I think it's got through to him a bit: "Life will bring you pain all by itself. Your responsibility is to create joy." Milton Erickson

Here are the options ladies because i'm sure some of you are in relationships with negative, miserable blokes-END IT! Particularly if your man is not willing to discuss it and/or see a mental health professional about it. If you have kids that's obviously a little trickier because it's important that your kids have a dad but rather than bitch and moan on an internet forum (in yet further irony the bitching and moaning coming from you is now directed at me), do something about it. My ex and I are still good friends because of our kids in spite of the fact our relationship ended years ago. The reason I give men the benefit of the doubt in this discussion is because the happiest men I know are dads but if you don't have kids with your man and he's incorrigibly miserable, say hasta la vista, baby. Life's too short to be with people like that

Oh thank God a man is here to tell us all what we should do, I'm so grateful, aren't you grateful too, ladies?

The thing is, this thread hasn’t just been bitching and moaning. It’s been pretty straightforward sharing of experiences and a couple of suggestions for improving things.

I’ve been unaware that I’ve been ‘chivvying’ DH for years and it’s just reading this that’s made me realise that I’ve been doing so.

That’s quite a big thing for me, and has helped me understand why I’m gradually getting more and more emotionally exhausted.

So, thanks everyone who’s been in the same boat, it’s actually helped to know I’m not alone. Which is pretty much the whole point of mumsnet isn’t it?

Carewser I can tell what type you are from your use of 'ladies' in your first sentence and the use of 'bitching' in your post, are you in on your own in a Saturday night?....wonder why

Yikes. This seems to have taken a different turn. @fluffygreenmonsterhoody Thank you for your comments. I agree that, amongst the tongue in cheek comments and some very entertaining examples, there have been some really useful suggestions.
I've realised that I shouldn't simply accept that 'he's just like that' because it really is starting to impact on the kids, DS especially who takes everything he says as gospel.

I don't think carewser had read our responses, really. He suggests we do something about it rather than moan. Well, plenty of us have suggested things we do or things for others to try.

Thanks for the suggestions and the support - it is good to know we're not alone and have some ideas!

Why thank you, carewser for your manly perspective, which will no doubt clear the way for us naive foolish females to see the error of our ways. Because of course none of us have tried anything at all to improve our lives, we have just moaned on this internet forum.

I love a good mansplainer, me.

You "ladies" make me so happy that I have not involved myself with any of you as none of you seem to have enough introspection to see the hypocrisy of complaining about complainers. My only complaint is that i'm not gay. "Pointythings", you sound like the type to use one on a man someday, you're a real charmer, all the while deluding yourself about how "upbeat" you are

Ugh he sounds like Adrian Mole with chronic pessimism!

Oooh, misogyny as well as mansplaining! Go on, carewser, give us more so I can call House!

Not quite sure what 'use one on a man' means though. And you need to look up the meaning of the word hypocrisy - I don't think it means what you think it means.

Are you being deliberately dense Carewser ? No one needs you to mansplain, it is you who doesn't understand....
The women on here are supportive of each other, often that means comparing experiences and talking about our own similar situations which then often sheds light on a problem, you don't seem to understand the spirit of MN and perhaps you would be better suited elsewhere, I do t think your input will be missed somehow.

'DONT' think you'll be missed obvs!