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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

Should I stay or should I go?

19 replies

whyiscakesodelicious · 17/10/2021 20:04

Partner of 18 years has said he doesn't love me anymore, he snaps at me at the very smallest thing. We have a 3 year old DD and another on the way, I'm 6 months pregnant with our 2nd DC. He can be truly awful to me sometimes but I don't want our family to be broken up. I love him and want to make things work. Historically I did do some bad things a few years into our relationship, kissed someone else, never told him etc and he found out a few years later. Recently he seems to be bringing up the past a lot and hasn't truly forgiven me even though this happened 16 years ago and he found out 12 years ago. In addition, he owns the home we live in which his dad helped him buy, my dad who has now passed never gave me anything or helped me financially and this is always mentioned that I haven't contributed financially and I'm a bad person for my past indiscretions. I really don't know what to do... he is a wonderful father to our daughter, but says he no longer loves me. Do I leave and become a single parent to 2 children? Is there something I can do to change his mind? I am so upset and lost. Yesterday, I forgot to lock the back door and he went from zero to 60 in a matter of seconds, saying that I was useless etc and bring up the past indiscretions as always. WWYD?

OP posts:
ExplodingCarrots · 17/10/2021 20:15

You leave. Why stay with someone who doesn't love you and clearly doesn't like you? He abuses you and you need to leave for the sake of you and your children.

GoodnightGrandma · 17/10/2021 20:17

Leave, it won’t get better.

category12 · 17/10/2021 20:25

@ExplodingCarrots

You leave. Why stay with someone who doesn't love you and clearly doesn't like you? He abuses you and you need to leave for the sake of you and your children.
This.
YoBeaches · 17/10/2021 20:26

Do you have a choice? Is he saying he loves you but won't leave you? Either way you have to leave, you can't stay in a relationship like this where you are belittled and disrespected.

What are the chances he's met someone else? Why is he's suing this now after 18years?

whyiscakesodelicious · 17/10/2021 20:34

He alternates between us staying together for the kids and other times I should go. I just want a happy 2 parent family for my children

OP posts:
category12 · 17/10/2021 20:35

Well, you're not going to get that with him.

Farwest · 17/10/2021 20:37

You have no choice. He doesn't love you, or even like you. You can't stay.

The question is: where do you go now that you have to leave?

What are your options? Do you have friends or family that you can stay with to start?

Do you work? Do you earn enough to rent?

You will qualify for some government support, and of course child maintenance.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 17/10/2021 20:37

Your relationship is well and truly over now because of the abuse he meets out to you (and in turn your child).

What is there to love about such a man, a man too who shouts at you a pregnant woman, like he does? Would you want your DD to be treated the same as you are as an adult, no you do not and you would want better for her. Overreacting as he has done and continues to do are also hallmarks of an abuser. These men hate women, all of them.

Teach her that the only acceptable level of abuse in a relationship is none.

What did you learn about relationships when you were growing up?. Did your dad treat your mum similarly?.

This is not going to get any better for you and your children. Why are you so invested in making this work?. I ask because there is really nothing to rescue or save here. He is also using any and all of your past indiscretions to beat you about the head with, this man holds grudges. And no, he is not a wonderful father to his daughter either because he abuses you as her mother. Women in poor relationships often write the good dad comment when they can think of nothing else positive to write about their man.

Better too to be from a so called broken home than to remain in what is really here an abusive relationship. You’re really describing domestic abuse here.

How can you be helped into leaving your abuser?. At the very least your midwife should be aware about the abuse happening to you, work with them and do not fear them. I would also suggest you also contact Women’s Aid. Plan your exit from this with due care and attention with their help and certainly before you give birth a second time.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 17/10/2021 20:43

If you really and truly do want a happy two parent family, it will not happen with this man you’re currently with. These children need to have a decent example of a father figure which their own dad is clearly not.

You are clearly unhappy because of him and this will affect your daughter too.

And do not stay with him because of the children either. That places a terribly heavy burden upon them and they will know that you stayed together because of them. It’s not an action you will be thanked for.

Your relationship is over and it’s over because of the abuse he has and will continue to inflict on you. Put your own self and your children first now, not him. His word is not law either.

whyiscakesodelicious · 17/10/2021 20:58

Apart from these reactions he has never treated me badly, he is kind hearted, come from a good family, he is financially stable, has good morals etc where as my dad lived in a council house, never bought it, spent all his money down the pub and never left me anything, used to charge me rent for living there. I moved in with my partner and his dad and they never charged me a penny ever. I did bad things and betrayed him through my own stupidity, I didn't realise at the time how lucky I was. I basically ruined our relationship back then but now it's coming to a head.

OP posts:
whyiscakesodelicious · 17/10/2021 21:00

He blames me for ruining our relationship and gets angry/annoyed over a door not being locked or a towel not being in the bathroom to dry your hands

OP posts:
whyiscakesodelicious · 17/10/2021 21:02

I do work so would be able to rent a small flat but I feel like my daughter would suffer as we currently live in a big 4 bedroom house with a nice garden. My partner is more financially stable than I am so could technically care for our DD better but at the same time, I would rather die than leave without her.

OP posts:
Farwest · 17/10/2021 21:17

Don't leave without her. A big house will not make up for being brought up by 2 people who have no love or respect for each other. Better to be happy and safe on your own than miserable in a big house.

Leave. Rent a flat. Keep working and provide for your dc. If your partner is a good Dad, then your dc will still have rooms in a big house on their nights with him. He will pay maintenance if you are the main carer. And he will provide for them generously and with love.

I fear you may find that he's not such a good Dad. Just as he's not a good partner. But I hope for you all that he is more committed to his dc than he has been to you.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 17/10/2021 21:17

"Apart from these reactions he has never treated me badly, he is kind hearted, come from a good family, he is financially stable, has good morals etc where as my dad lived in a council house, never bought it, spent all his money down the pub and never left me anything, used to charge me rent for living there"

You call his abuse of you his reactions?.

All of this re him is irrelevant because of the ways in which he has and continues to treat you and in turn your DD who is absorbing all this from her dad and you like a sponge.

His father and he not charging you rent was not the kindness you thought it was either; you could have shown a rent book then but your status is not even that of a lodger. He could actually throw you and your DD out at any time. Your position is that vulnerable.

Your dad showed you a really poor male relationship example and with this man you have found someone not too dissimilar to your dad. You were not right to cheat but I feel you actually cheated because you were that unhappy with him back then and perhaps therefore fell for a person who actually showed you some kindness and interest. Something that your man does not do even now and he has already told you he no longer loves you. I do not think he ever did actually; you were just useful to him.

Your own lack of boundaries and low relationship as a result of that in your childhood made you ideal for someone like this man to sink his claws into; he decided to target you accordingly.

I tell you now that your DD would prefer a smaller home anyway because her home currently is clearly not a happy one. Material things mean nothing to such young children, she wants a happy mother!!.

You as her mother are miserable and she will pick up on your inherent unhappiness too. As for him getting angry over a towel not being in the bathroom, that is a clear overreaction on his part but is an ideal thing to beat you further about the head with.

category12 · 17/10/2021 21:24

I did bad things and betrayed him through my own stupidity, I didn't realise at the time how lucky I was. I basically ruined our relationship back then but now it's coming to a head.

You might have made mistakes in the past, but that was 12 years ago and he chose to stay with you and have children with you.

Continually raking up the past and using it as a stick to beat you with over a decade later and after you've built a family together is abusive - if he can't forgive you and feels the need to keep punishing you years and years later, that's his issue at this point. It's not justified.

KILNAMATRA · 17/10/2021 21:29

Can you get support from your family for a few days? Just leave with kids and have a break? Have some headspace, and give you a break from the cranky man..

isitweds9thseptyet · 17/10/2021 21:31

Kissing someone 16 years ago and being a model partner ever since is NOT ruining a relationship.

He is the one ruining the relationship and he is using this minor past slip up to beat you down make you question yourself and blame the relationship break up on YOU.

You are not breaking up a family unit. As you are not a family. You are not unified. He is not a caring partner.

Sidehustle99 · 17/10/2021 22:50

It sounds like he hates you. Do you want your kids to think that's what a healthy relationship looks like. They are so young and won't remember this part of their lives. They deserve to have a happy DM.

Itstimetoquit · 18/10/2021 00:44

If he doesn't love you there is no future,don't stay together for the child,my parents did that and it was awful for us kids x

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