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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

If you're in a more traditional eg sahm set up..

318 replies

Eucalyptusbee · 02/03/2022 21:37

Which parent is more responsible if one of the kids has an issue with poor school performance vs what they should be getting (Not an issue with underlying ability or behaviour, just not meeting expectations as per natural ability).

I'm talking primary school age children here so parental help required for learning support.

Is it
The sah parent
The parent who is focused on earning and so not around to help with homework
Neither

OP posts:
ChickenStripper · 03/03/2022 11:06

@Eucalyptusbee

He said he's not interested in mediocrity and I should stop making excuses
However I've just seen this and think he's being a twat.
Ticksallboxes · 03/03/2022 11:10

Child is doing fine just not excelling...plus busy almost every day with extracurricular sports/dance etc

This!

As PPs have said, your DC sounds exhausted and you just need to cut back a little and give the poor thing some time to decompress.

FWIW I'm a SAHM and do all school related stuff, but I have two teens, not a baby.

TooTiredToSleepRightNow · 03/03/2022 11:10

Sorry he goes to the gym?! OP I come from a ‘culture’ where men go to gym as soon as they clock off from work in the evening leaving the women to deal with everything else at home because they are the ‘breadwinners’. You are highly accomplished, please put your foot down. I’m ‘just’ as Sahm and my husband has a very important job and I wouldn’t stand for this. Maybe I was sick of what I saw around me and wouldn’t stand for anyone talking down to me when I know I make a big difference. Incidentally I deal with all the education side and admin because I have the time and I am abit pushy but in a nice way (I think) I would like my husband to be involved but he never nags me about not doing a good job. He knows I make a helluva difference even if just sitting with the kids infront of the telly having a conversation about their day. In your shoes I would just ignore him and then in the evening leave the kids with him so you can go to the gym or whatever too. If he has a problem with it then you’ll know you really need to think if you’re happy with this and if you’re happy for your children to think this sort of set up is okay.

SpinsForGin · 03/03/2022 11:11

Poor you and your poor children.
He 100% is the problem here. Not you and not your child who appears to be doing just fine.

Lots of children aren't where they should be in terms of their education because of the absolute shit show of the last 2 years. Instead of acknowledging this and supporting your child he's decided to blame his wife, someone he supposedly loves?

You sound lovely and you're clearly very accomplished and intelligent. You are worth more than this.

Quartz2208 · 03/03/2022 11:12

But why is money the measure to what everything is set to. Which to be fair is also not necessarily true of his belief that you have to be intellectually superior either because if you revealed his career and measured it against yours - yours would win.

You have given him and his ego far too much room in your relationship to the detriment of you and your children

He does mortgage school fees holidays and savings

Hold on i the mortgage is paid then what does he go that cant actually go.

So he gets to save all of his money whilst doing nothing but work and have his own space.

You need to sit down with him - and basically tell him that actually the family arent seeing any of his money because you are covering everything and if he wants to quit you will support him.

Or frankly get a divorce

minipie · 03/03/2022 11:19

I think the issue is since our first child he's never really done much of the general grind of home life as he works so hard in a very stressful job.

Yes this is it.

I think you need to leave him to look after them for a weekend (minus the breastfeeding) and see what it’s really like. Tell him he also needs to achieve X laundry loads, cook all meals, keep the place clean and vaguely tidy.

Also, if he’s off to the gym or tennis multiple times a week he loses ALL right to say he’s too busy to get involved with the DC. I was picturing him working till 10/11 pm until you said that. When is your gym/tennis time ? Never, I’m betting.

ChickenStripper · 03/03/2022 11:25

Bankrolling the family? Wow! Many men in these highly competitive corporations end up feeling that the whole of the lifestyle of the family depends on them and sometimes it does. It can cause a huge amount of stress. You've obviously set yourselves some aims in your marriage - getting mortgage paid off ( no mean feat in London) , school fees etc. Perhaps he is caught up in life style expectations too - the house, the car, the holidays etc. I am not making any excuses for him but it does happen. The two of you need to have a serious talk here about how you want your life to be going forward - the life/work balance and the outlays that you have. Do you really need to move eg? Do you need to go back to work? Do you want to go back to work? Three children are not easy. Do you need as many expensive holidays? I've been there with a corporate stressed ex H and it's not fun.That's why he is an ex.

Eucalyptusbee · 03/03/2022 11:39

I've never had any particular lifestyle expectations beyond home ownership.

Currently kids are in local state and until ut broke down last year drove around in a 15 year old car .

I do enjoy the holidays but I'd be happy holidaying in Wales- no demands from me there or on other things eg jewelery clothes self care and what not

Move is to put the kids into a good private prep school which weve always been interested in and now have savings for. and coincixes with me taking up a permanent post in a local hospital (35mins commute). We aren't searching particularly for a bigger house just more garden and so not looking for an enormous mortgage

Plan is then that he gradually scales back / finds new role whilst I continue to work to cover day to-day stuff

OP posts:
Quartz2208 · 03/03/2022 11:43

and scales back to do what? Because by then the kids will be older and you have taken all the slack.

Or probably nit pick them into believing they arent good enough

This is actually really sad and damaging OP to see what he has done to you and seeing what this could do to your daughter - who by the way had a lovely parents evening.

You need to speak to him - and ignore all his bluster about how what if he quits because honestly so what if he does let him take on all the child rearing/housework etc you have the means for him to do so if that is what would make him happy

But it wont

ThymePoultice · 03/03/2022 11:47

It's paid down now, so payments going into savings instead - for school fees / retirement (his work pension is shit)

So it’s “savings”? It’s not “mortgage”?

And same with the “school fees”

He’s not “paying the mortgage plus school fees plus whatever”. He is saving and saving some more and paying some minor expenses while you pay everything else(!)

I can’t tell if some of this weirdness is folie a deux or if he has quite literally brainwashed you into such nonsense. You’re repeating it all, as if it were fact. You must have critical faculties. Why aren’t you using them?

ThymePoultice · 03/03/2022 11:52

Honestly OP, your tone is so “off”. I can’t decide if you’re actually as ground down as you sound. If you are, you really need to start recognising these behaviours for what they are. You probably need support from an DA counsellor.

The other horrible possibility that keeps going though my mind is that this a reverse.

Why would the wife in this scenario dutifully report to us that the husband is paying mortgage and school fees when she is actually quite clear that the kids are in state school and the mortgage is paid off? This is scary.

What other euphemisms does he use that you buy into?

Quartz2208 · 03/03/2022 11:57

What is his background before you met at University. I wonder if actually he has low self esteem when it comes to his own intelligence that this is all just a means of pushing forward how great he is

Medicine/Law degrees - medicine is FAR harder to get into than Law even at Oxbridge. Yet he has picked the one measurement that Law will win in - money. In most other areas (and I work in the field and have a law degree) a reasonable person would put medicine ahead yet he has focused on the one where he wins. And puts that ahead of everything else.

Apart from work hours - which frankly is of his own making and linked again to the money. And his need for free time. Then he pays for the mortgage (again the highest value bill) until the point where that is paid for so he pays for the school fees and holidays so you can fawn over the fact that his job pays for all these amazing things. Even though you are responsible for the day to day grind.

Then he needs his children to reflect this again by exceeding expectations because a man like him couldnt possibly have a child that is god forbid just meeting expectations they have to exceed because he is obviously so amazing and intelligent how could they not

And you wont question any of this - why?

Eucalyptusbee · 03/03/2022 11:58

I'm really sorry I don't know what you mean? It's not a reverse. He paid the mortgage down and then has put into savings the equivalent amount monthly to build up security and make sure have saved enough to cover 3x school fees come what may.

OP posts:
carmenitapink · 03/03/2022 11:58

[quote 1Wanda1]@Clymene "But the OP isn't a SAHP. She's a hospital doctor on maternity leave"

Yes I get that, but for the purpose of this thread she's on mat leave and has compared that to being the SAHP, which she is while on mat leave. [/quote]
Mat leave is different to being a SAHP because you have a newborn which is more demanding than most FT jobs!

sleepymum50 · 03/03/2022 11:59

Hi, I wanted to add a comment and it’s for everyone on this thread.

Many years ago I was a SAHM and my OH was the breadwinner and in the armed forces. Due to his job he could often be away up to three weeks at a time, so we agreed that I needed to be at home.

When my only DD was about 7, I remember that I was having a wobble about my lack of earning power. My oh sat me down and told me that raising our child was the most important thing to both of us, and in the long term this is what would matter.

Being in the forces isn’t just a job, but he said he still feels that it was secondary to me raising our child. By the way, we had completely joint finances.

This has stayed with me, throughout my life and has helped me enormously with my role in our family. I have wondered at times if this speech was a bit of “rallying of the troops”. (Which he’s very good at). But it was stated by him, and so became a core belief in our marriage.

He’s not perfect, and can be a dick at times, but in a way he was only stating a truth that many men (and women overlook)

OP I know your husband isn’t thinking this and in fact doing the opposite. I think your job puts you in most people lives as very very successful.

So perhaps, if you were to take this as your mantra - when he gives you his bullshit, cocoon yourself with the thought that you are in fact doing the more important job.

Perhaps in time, you can convince him of the same.

Eucalyptusbee · 03/03/2022 12:00

He's not a showy person ar all so it's not about fawning or anything like that.

From a very poor background so I think has a big fear of financial insecurity

OP posts:
ThymePoultice · 03/03/2022 12:00

He does mortgage school fees holidays and savings

That’s the quote (thanks @Quartz2208 - was scrolling madly).

So translation: Savings, savings, holidays and more savings.

Meanwhile, you’re paying childcare and more or less all the real bills?

Dare I ask whose name these savings are in?

ikeepseeingit · 03/03/2022 12:01

OP, you need marriage counselling. I don’t say this lightly at all, but you’ve told us he shuts down any level of productive conversation by telling everyone around him that they are the problem and not him.You both need an avenue to talk frankly, and the communication skills to actually move forward in your conversations. Every time someone has told you to talk to him, you’ve told us he won’t listen to you. Well, he needs to. He needs to love and support you. That is the bare minimum in any relationship.

ThymePoultice · 03/03/2022 12:03

@Eucalyptusbee

I'm really sorry I don't know what you mean? It's not a reverse. He paid the mortgage down and then has put into savings the equivalent amount monthly to build up security and make sure have saved enough to cover 3x school fees come what may.
I mean the way you dutifully report that “He pays for mortgage, school fees, holidays and savings” is very unsettling. What he’s actually doing is buying holidays and saving. You know that because you know there is no mortgage and you know the DC are currently in state school. So why are you broadcasting his distortions on your own support thread?

You can see this would be the way a manipulator would spin it to justify him saving while you pay bills?

Quartz2208 · 03/03/2022 12:07

@Eucalyptusbee

He's not a showy person ar all so it's not about fawning or anything like that.

From a very poor background so I think has a big fear of financial insecurity

It isnt about showing off to anyone else OP I never said that it was. It is about all of this being what he needs to reassure and reaffirm to himself that he is as intelligent as he thinks he should be and that he is deserving of what he has. Everything you have said about him and how he is with money/you and the children feeds into this

And his background is exactly what I would expect given what you have said about him.

But it is not only a dangerous line for him to walk because the smallest thing can push him off, and he has to put you down otherwise he may have to face up to some uncomfortable truths. But it is potentially very damaging for your children because there is a very small window of achievement that will suit him. Too much it means that they are potentially cleverer than him - and where does that fit in with his created ideal. Not exceeding - again makes him question this.

Y

Clymene · 03/03/2022 12:08

@Eucalyptusbee

I've never had any particular lifestyle expectations beyond home ownership.

Currently kids are in local state and until ut broke down last year drove around in a 15 year old car .

I do enjoy the holidays but I'd be happy holidaying in Wales- no demands from me there or on other things eg jewelery clothes self care and what not

Move is to put the kids into a good private prep school which weve always been interested in and now have savings for. and coincixes with me taking up a permanent post in a local hospital (35mins commute). We aren't searching particularly for a bigger house just more garden and so not looking for an enormous mortgage

Plan is then that he gradually scales back / finds new role whilst I continue to work to cover day to-day stuff

He won't scale back. He's addicted to the 'success' and being a big swinging dick. And amassing lots and lots of money.
Hellolittlestar · 03/03/2022 12:11

I’m a SAHP. I agree that most responsibility should be on the SAHP, why wouldn’t it when you are around after school?

ChocolateMassacre · 03/03/2022 12:43

This is weird.

As pp have pointed out, you (collectively) can afford help. Your H must be earning a fortune if he's earning 10 times what you are as an anaesthetist.

Your maternity leave is primarily to care for the baby. Yes, it allows you to be around for the other two, but primarily you should be focusing on the baby.

The logical solution given your financial situation would be an afterschool nanny or mother's help a few days a week either to take the older ones to activities or to care for the baby so you can focus on the older ones.

For your DD, if you think she actually could benefit from help with reading and maths (and she's probably absolutely fine), I would advertise for a nice student to come and read with her or play maths games for a few hours a week. Maybe ask if any of your neighbours have a responsible teen who would like to earn a bit of pocket money?

You are being split in many directions and it's not necessary when you have the financial resources to pay for help.

pointythings · 03/03/2022 13:00

@Hellolittlestar

I’m a SAHP. I agree that most responsibility should be on the SAHP, why wouldn’t it when you are around after school?
You may wish to RFTF. OP is not a SAHP, she is a full time working parent who just happens to be on mat leave. Mat leave exists to care for a new baby, not to become a full time housework slave.
Liverbird77 · 03/03/2022 13:16

I'm a sahm and also a trained teacher. Furthermore, my dh is unfamiliar with the English school system. I make all the decisions relating to schooling and he is happy to go along with it. I would be the one to deal with an issue like you mentioned as well.

My husband is really involved and supportive though. If either child needed help with maths or science he would be the go to guy. If I needed him to be at any meetings then he'd be there etc.