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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

Husband being difficult about me going to work

66 replies

Beachlover77 · 06/08/2021 19:23

I’ve not worked for a number of years, it was a joint decision so I could stay home and raise our daughter, my husband is self employed and earns well.
After 8 years i feel its time I get back into employment. I’ve been offered a part time position which for the most part fits around school which is great. I’ve spoken to my husband about it, initially he was ok with it if it means him not having to do much (he means picks ups and drop offs and shopping etc) we’ve had a few rows about it as I don’t feel it’s fair that I’m relying on him to pay everything (then he has a go at me for spending it!) I want my own money again and I want to contribute to the house etc again. He apologised after our last row and said as long as he has enough notice then he can take some time off to help in the school holidays. I told him today when October half term is and asked him to try to keep 3 days clear so he can have our daughter while I work those days. He shouted 3 days!!!! No way 3 days!!! Like I had asked him to commit a crime. I asked why not and reminded him he said he would take time off to help. He replied he is too busy and earns too much to take time off and why should he lose money (I replied that I’ve given him lots of notice so it would easy for him to keep those days free as he only plans three weeks ahead of time. He keeps saying why should he lose money for three days for me to earn not much. Says he’s earning for the house and family and that I keep spending it. I would just add that I spend it on paying the bills and groceries etc, never on things for me (I use my savings for anything I want but now my savings are running short) he has several savings accounts with healthy balances. If I ask for money he would give it to me so not tight in that respect but why is he making it so hard for me to go back to work and why can’t he take 3 days off to have our daughter. I don’t think I’m being unreasonable in asking for him to help share the childcare in the holiday.

OP posts:
LannieDuck · 07/08/2021 20:17

If he doesn't want to take 3 days' leave, he needs to organise childcare for those days.

Elnetthairnet · 08/08/2021 08:17

I’d point out that if you divorce him he’s going to lose a big chunk of those savings, and he’s going to have to find time to do a whole lot more childcare than 3 days. Having to ask for money is not ok - why should you have to ask for something that should be shared?

Bluntness100 · 08/08/2021 08:24

Actually I think you’re both being unreasonable. Why don’t you jist sort childcare like other working parents.

He’s right, he’s self employed, three days income is a lot to loose, and you shouldn’t need to take holiday either. Just sort childcare.

IdblowJonSnow · 08/08/2021 08:32

^ @Bluntness100

Are you for real bluntness? 3 days is nothing in comparison to what the OP has given.

And I agree with other PPs - he's not 'helping', she's his daughter ffs.

OP please take this job. Get some independence and really kick back against your 'D'H. He does sound controlling. He doesn't want you to spend or earn? You can't win can you? Go back to work. Get afterschool care sorted if required. Part time jobs are like gold dust. Please don't pass this up!!

Bluntness100 · 08/08/2021 08:38

I didn’t say it was anything remotely like the op has given and I certainly didn’t say she shouldn’t take the job. Your attack makes no sense at all. I simoly said they need to organise child care.

catfunk · 08/08/2021 08:51

Financial abuse op. Give your head a shake.

Muggee · 08/08/2021 08:54

It sounds like he can't be arsed to do his share of stuff around the house or with his child, and you going back to work means he will have to. But congratulations on the job it sounds exciting for you, and quite frankly he will have to deal with it!

EarthSight · 08/08/2021 09:15

For those three days he could instead pay you double the wage you'd get in that job, the money being put into a new separate bank account.......no?

Seems like he's got used to having a wife at home OP, and he was always more traditional than you realised.

I don’t feel it’s fair that I’m relying on him to pay everything (then he has a go at me for spending it!)

Says he’s earning for the house and family and that I keep spending it. I would just add that I spend it on paying the bills and groceries etc, never on things for me (I use my savings for anything I want but now my savings are running short) he has several savings accounts with healthy balances

Yes, you keep spending it because that's what's necessarily in running a household....it costs money.

There isn't equality in this marriage. If you have had to dip into your savings every time you wanted something for you, and you were at home taking care of the house and child, then your husband doesn't see you as a team, at all. He's very much puts his own interests first, whilst you have to fight to get yourself heard. There's no togetherness, no team work in that. Those kinds of people don't event understand the concept of 'team' - they are the centre of the universe and everybody else just fits around them somehow.

I've read many disturbing posts on Mumsnet, but one of the saddest is of a woman whose husband would not pay for her £40 winter coat, or there were arguments about it at least. £40 won't buy anyone a decently warm winter coat unless you're very lucky in the sale, but that was too much for him.

If he's giving you money but doing so begrudgingly and then having a go at you of spending 'his' money, if he doesn't take time off because he'll lose money.....then it sounds to me like he values his money more than you and his child. I can understand his attitude if you were both on the breadline or pretty poor, but if you are comfortably off then I just don't think he cares about you as much as you might think he does. Ask yourself, are his actions those of a husband who cares about the wellbeing of his wife and child?

I'm an outspoken person and will call people out on their shitty behaviour so I have no problem in telling him he is being very unfair......but I lack any kind of ability to follow up on it as it all gets forgotten about as he carries on like nothing's been said

Sorry but he just doesn't really care OP. An empathic, caring man who loves his wife changes because he wants to stop hurting his partner and wants to see her happy. She doesn't need to threaten to leave before he does so. Some people aren't like this. They will only change if there are consequences (usually their partner leaving them), and by that time it's already too late as they've shown their partner what their true colours are.

I would almost be inclined to say that if he's a bit of a macho man, he might feel emasculated by you....doesn't help if he feels like he has to be driven everywhere, but that's absolutely for him to sort out not you. It might also be why he doesn't want you to go back to work because him being the sole earner has the benefit of keeping you on a financial leash, being able to have a say on what you spend the money on, and also relieve any insecurities about his dominance and masculinity he might have.

Being a single mum is hard......but it sounds like he's weighing you down OP :/

PearlFriday · 08/08/2021 09:21

And when you've had enough and have to walk away, he'll be fighting hard to make sure you get as little of his pension as possible, after having been the obstacle to you working.

JulesCobb · 08/08/2021 11:13

@Bluntness100

I didn’t say it was anything remotely like the op has given and I certainly didn’t say she shouldn’t take the job. Your attack makes no sense at all. I simoly said they need to organise child care.
No. HE needs to organise childcare. Not they. She did organise childcare. HIM He now doesnt want to.
Bluntness100 · 08/08/2021 11:16

Bloody heck Confused

Monkeybusinesss · 08/08/2021 11:20

Just pay for childcare out of the joint account. Don’t even ask.
Oh and leave him

LivingLaVidaBabyShower · 08/08/2021 11:24

@user16395699

Anxiety doesn't cause someone to commit coercive control.
I agree with this.

And the poster who said he is angry because he is abusive.

"Anxiety" isnt a catch all. It isn't the reason he won't cultivate a relationship with his own child, it isnt why he name calls and os verbally abusive.

This job is a hill i would die on. I would be organising child care myself and ensuring he pays for it.

What a fucker.

JosephineDeBeauharnais · 08/08/2021 11:26

What's all this "he should lose money" and "my savings" and "he has several savings accounts". You are married, and if you divorced you'd both find out pretty quickly that in marriage there is no "his money" and "my money" - it's all "our money".

This. I am so so sick of reading threads about men like this every single day. It makes my blood boil at their entitlement. It’s beyond me that in this day and age there are still men out there who think that their wives are their servants and their children are not their responsibility, who put work above all else. These aren’t men raised in the 50s, when these attitudes were the norm, but men born in the 70s, 80s who should know bloody better. Angry

AgentJohnson · 09/08/2021 06:00

Would you be happy for your DD to be married to someone like her father. If not, why the hell is he acceptable for her mother to be? Think about it. You staying home might have been a joint decision but only one of you was making a sacrifice.

You going to work and earning your own money, represents a loss of control and a huge change to a dynamic that suited him and his hands off parenting ideal. Now you are waking up to the negative impacts of his issues on you and your DD, I hope you stop being so accommodating of them in the future.

There came a point in mediation when it became clear that Ex was not up for being the default parent for four days of the month. There were lots of reasons why the responsibility was unfair, impact on his career, social life etc. Which really opened my eyes to the reality of his ‘great father’ persona. Like Lizzo says, ‘why are men great until they gotta be great’.

OurChristmasMiracle · 09/08/2021 08:15

Of course he’s anxious - he is losing control. He doesn’t like the idea of you being free hence he never takes his daughter out anywhere without you. He doesn’t want you working so he will make it harder.

He is abusing you.

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