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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

A thread about healthy relationships?

55 replies

BlingLoving · 11/05/2020 12:06

Obviously, most of the time, people posting about their relationship are doing so because they're in crisis. And so the relationship board is skewed towards that. Sometimes, on those threads, people in healthy relationships come along and explain how they do things. And I'm sure that's helpful at times but maybe the OP just wants to focus on her own problem.

So I thought I'd create a thread where we can comment on why we think our relationships are healthy (I assume, based on my own experience, that doesn't necessarily mean perfect! Grin ) and what we think makes them healthy. Perhaps people who are struggling might take a look at their leisure and consider if any of the points resonate or apply to their relationships?

In my case, I think the key points are that DH and I love each other. And what that means is that we want to help and support each other. Which informs much of our individual and family decision making. If he wants to do something I'm not wild about, I consider whether it's good for him/our family/our mental health. When DH is doing laundry or tidying up he's doing it partly because he loves me and wants me to have a nice home and he doesn't want me to have to work any harder than he does.

Also, we don't get it right all the time, not least because things change (eg jobs/finances/kids at different stages). But when one of us starts to feel it's not working, there's a discussion or raging argument that ultimately leads to us addressing it and shifts in how things happen. Eg at start of lockdown, DH wasn't working so was taking on 100% of kids. But... it became clear within a week that somehow, I was WFH and doing everything else. Meals, planning, thinking, laundry etc. We'd just slipped into it. Now, 6 weeks in, that's just not the case anymore. DH has stepped up on the home stuff. I have more actively encouraged him to do workouts etc, and am happy to ensure I stop working to do childcare during those times etc, which are hugely important and which he was feeling he couldn't do so was affecting everything else. I feel like we navigated this quite well and I'm very grateful that we're able to have these conversations arguments.

Often on this board I see families where this basic consideration and care doesn't exist and it makes no sense. Why would a man marry a woman if he doesn't want her to be happy and loved?

I really don't want this to sound smug. It's more that I used to think DH and I had a volatile relationship because we DO argue. But then I realised that the arguments lead to change and improvements in how we operate. I also realised that not everyone experiences this. I've had a number of people comment that they can't argue with their DH, for example, because it ends in sulking/days of PA behaviour/ hurtful comments etc. One friend was completely gobsmacked that Dh and I were able to discuss and come to compromises.

OP posts:
WinterAndRoughWeather · 12/05/2020 15:28

The backgrounds / moving abroad thing is interesting, and ties in to Ragwort’s point about shared values.

Humans are very bad at assessing future risk, and I can well imagine that in the exciting early days of a relationship it would be very easy to say “yes I’ll happily go with you to another country” without really thinking about what that would mean and how much you would have to give up. Which is unfair on the person who really wants to move.

At least one person in that scenario has to be the sort of person who can live anywhere and doesn’t feel strongly that they need to be close to family etc.

A lot of this seems to boil down to self examination and emotional intelligence doesn’t it?

ravenmum · 12/05/2020 15:59

Yes, it wasn't him being deliberately deceitful, it was him not giving it proper thought, and me not probing enough. His family lived 4 hours away anyway, so that wasn't the main issue; he wanted to stay in the same company as he thought he had a good chance of rising to great heights there. Your values do change over time.

BlingLoving · 13/05/2020 09:22

The other thing that as I get older I see as more and more of a common theme in ‘healthy’ relationships is shared values, backgrounds, attitudes to money etc etc ... all very dull and boring and when I was younger I would never had admitted they were important but after 30+ years of marriage I look back to all the weddings I have attended, well over half of them have ended in divorce many because of such different ‘values’.

To a large extent, I think this is true. Not necessarily background as such but intrinsic core about how you think about the world. DH and I take a similar approach to family and money. We think the same things are important in terms of raising children etc. I have a very clear memory of early in our relationship preparing for a big event and realising that DH had absolutely the same approach to me as to how he viewed it and wanted it to go. It was a small thing but it stands out because it was one of the first times I started thinking, "Okay, this relationship could really go somewhere."

OP posts:
puta91 · 17/06/2020 00:35

So my previous relationships have been awful. Lack of respect, toxic, mental and physical abuse, no financial support. This is what has taught me what an unhealthy relationship is. Then I met my now current partner been together nearly 3 years, probably had one argument which was something quite big. He respects me, he always wants me involved in big decisions, he supports me and fills me with such positivity and love, he constantly compliments me. I would say our strongest trait is communication, we talk about everything, we've worked through something major and came out of the other end of it. He's transparent with me, he's calm and patient with me. The list could go on. People have different perspectives of what a healthy relationship looks like and what a bad relationship looks like. I have been abused for years, being called names and humiliated in public. If my current partner was to ever call me say a bitch in a rage I would not speak to him as to me it's a sign of disrespect, as to others it may not be a big deal. I can differentiate the two by comparing those bad traits to my new relationship. My current partner has never called anything disrespectful, or shouted at me, it's sad that I see that as a major part of a healthy relationship, as noone should ever be used to being abused.

needhandhold · 17/06/2020 04:16

I think having the courage to finish a relationship at the first sign of a red flag is a huge thing actually and very important for finding the right partner. I didn’t do that. I look back now and wish I had. It would have meant a much happier life for me. I’ve settled with somebody who isn’t quite right and when kids came along he became impatient, rude and unsupportive. Those traits were always there and did raise their head. The fact he could make me laugh and was charming could always gloss over the red flags like never accompanying me to family events. Being rude and impatient when driving. Road rage. Etc etc they all seem like little things at the time and aren’t constant but I would honestly say road rage is a huge red flag. Do not have kids with somebody who loses their temper when driving or speeds dangerously. It shows poor impulse control, immaturity, ego problems...that can be glossed over until kids come along and those traits then come out in every day life

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