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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

Does your DH make your life easier?

107 replies

MentionItAll · 21/09/2022 11:07

Just that really, would you say your DH/DP whatever made your life easier? Do you expect them to?
Or do you think you would you find everything easier to manage without them around? And in what way?

OP posts:
Shoxfordian · 21/09/2022 11:14

We make each other’s lives easier and better. I cook him dinner, he cleans it all up after. We’re a team and we work well together

AnneLovesGilbert · 21/09/2022 11:16

Are you writing an article?

Suzi888 · 21/09/2022 11:16

Yes, he does things I can’t /don’t know/don’t want to do. Deals with cars MOT and maintenance, he will do chores around house if I tell him what to do (I would prefer him out of the house if I’m cleaning to be honest). He mows the lawn, good at DIY. Sorts bills, house admin. He will cook.
Will do food shop with DD. Will help with the dog he didn’t want 🤣but I did. Assists with childcare arrangements, homework and DD activities outside school. Oh and decorating.

He’s pretty good. He even took DD clothes shopping once - and well and truly got fleeced by the little devil. 😂

NotLactoseFree · 21/09/2022 11:17

When things were not going so well between us, the answer would have been no, he didn't make my life easier and I fantasised about how much easier my life would be without him. I suspect he felt the same

Once we worked through a lot of those issues, we both saw a complete change in how we viewed things and now I 100% agree and see that my life is easier with him in it. And better. He feels the same.

SleepingStandingUp · 21/09/2022 11:18

Yes he does, I'm dreading him being away this weekend! i do nights so he does mornings as I'm constantly exhausted so need to catch up when I can. He does bedtime for two whilst I do bed time of 1. He does eldest night time feeds and meds.

MentionItAll · 21/09/2022 11:19

@AnneLovesGilbert ha no, I’ve been around a while I just name change often
Just trying to gauge whether I’m expecting too much or whether it would genuinely be easier to be alone as I suspect
DH not only doesn’t make my life easier, I feel like he actively makes it harder … but would it be even harder to be a single parent? I just don’t know

OP posts:
MentionItAll · 21/09/2022 11:21

@NotLactoseFree that is very interesting, if you don’t mind me asking, what were those issues and how do you work through them??
I feel like we’ve had the same conversation 30,000 times but nothing ever changes

OP posts:
Drivebye · 21/09/2022 11:23

No and in many ways makes it harder. He definitely made it harder when children were smaller.

TokyoSushi · 21/09/2022 11:25

Mostly yes, he does a lot of things that I don't want to do! Also, just simple things like yesterday DD got a new bed, he put it together in 10 minutes, would have taken me about 3 hours.

It's also nice to have somebody that will always help you, pick you up from somewhere, make you a cup of tea etc. Just generally somebody who is generally kind to you without expecting anything in return (although I do a lot in return, it goes both ways!)

NiqueNique · 21/09/2022 11:32

Yes he does. Very much so. He also makes me want to be a better person than I naturally am. I love and admire him hugely and we have a very happy relationship.

We also have rows and there are things about him that drive me mad and he finds me completely exasperating at times. But underneath it all is a fierce and abiding love. We are partners in life and naturally give and take as needed. To use a timely phrase, he is my ‘strength and stay’ and hopefully I am his.

I’m sorry that your DH doesn’t want to be a help to you or isn’t capable of it. I was a single parent as a young woman and some parts of it were very difficult. But I’m quite sure that having a terrible partner would have been much worse. That’s soul destroying.

Flopisfatteningbingforchristmas · 21/09/2022 11:35

Hmm. I’ve been musing this myself lately. Certainly financially things would be very different. My DH is just crap at doing this to a schedule or doing the full job. I think in my case we just need a better division of labour around crunch points and I need to accept that it takes him longer to get the kids to do stuff.

GiantTortoise · 21/09/2022 11:35

Yes, definitely. He does all the gardening and DIY (sorry for sexist division of labour!), he does his share of lifts for the DC at weekends. He also supports me financially (we both work but he earns more) and emotionally.

VesselFinder · 21/09/2022 11:35

Life without DH... not sure where I'd be tbh. He works, I haven't worked in 9 years. He does the dishes, drives, cooks sometimes, DIY, cuts the grass, does his half of bedtimes. I'm convinced I don't do enough but he's ridiculously grateful for the things I do. The admin, dog care, bday/Christmas admin, paperwork. The things that are invisible are things that he truly 'sees' me do. I'm currently waiting for autism/adhd assessment and hope to be able to hold onto a job once I figure out what's not working in my brain. Trying to live a normal life has been a struggle.

sausage767 · 21/09/2022 11:36

Infinitely, I’d be lost without him. I joke that he’s made me dependent on him over the years by looking after me so well.

NotLactoseFree · 21/09/2022 11:36

I think that even the good men (and DH is definitely one) very easily slip into this mindset where it's not their responsibility to do things or think about things etc. And the knock on effects can be that they over estimate how much they're doing (and expect excessive thanks for whatever it is they DO do), and they massively underestimate what their partner is doing (and don't ever acknowledge it) and then things spiral out of control and there's complaints about nagging and controlling behaviour and all the rest of it.

In our case, this was definitely it. It wasn't that DH didn't do anything - he did. But I got increasingly resentful and frustrated that I was doing all the THINKING and the PLANNING and that even though I was the one who worked full time hours, his attitude was that I should be grateful if he cleaned the bathroom and that if I wanted it done "better" (my view was that it wasn't done properly at all), then I should do it.

Fixing it was a combination. The first is that we did get a cleaning agency in. I still don't feel they do a fantastic job, but they do an okay job and that means that I can do the "deep cleaning" that neither DH nor the new cleaners seem to even realise exists and DH does a lot of day to day tidying. He also 100% has taken on certain tasks - changing bedding and laundry being the two key ones, and accepts that he has to not just do them, but think about them and plan for them and not leave it to me to tell him or remind him or point out that we need to do whites because the DC don't have shirts for school....

We also had a lot of conversations. From DH's side, he has made an effort to pay attention to the endless things that I'm doing day in and day out and appreciate them. He has also made more effort to take some of that on and to be more thoughtful. eg, an argument we've had a few times in the past might be that I'll be trying to figure out how to arrange or plan something happening in the future (eg perhaps a complicated logistics arrangement around DD's dance class later that week). That would stress DH out and he'd refuse to engage. Now, he realises that he can't do that (or I remind him) and he will stop and discuss whatever it is with me. It's a small thing but makes a huge difference, not least because otherwise I'd do all the planning and organising and then he'd complain!

He's also spoken to other people and I think come to realise he was being a dick and needed to be more proactive.

On my part, I also had to stop and realise that actually, he does do a great deal and I was so busy being angry that I did more that I didn't appreciate all the things he does do. And that if I do hand off something to him, he will take it on. And of course, as the stuff in the first half of my post improved, this part was easier. I think key for me was accepting that he was genuinely trying because, and I do think this is really really important, no matter how hard we don't want this to be true, men (and boys) ARE socialised differently and as a result they come to adulthood in a very different way. That might be changing now, but it certainly wasn't the case for DH and his peers.

EmmaH2022 · 21/09/2022 11:37

VesselFinder · 21/09/2022 11:35

Life without DH... not sure where I'd be tbh. He works, I haven't worked in 9 years. He does the dishes, drives, cooks sometimes, DIY, cuts the grass, does his half of bedtimes. I'm convinced I don't do enough but he's ridiculously grateful for the things I do. The admin, dog care, bday/Christmas admin, paperwork. The things that are invisible are things that he truly 'sees' me do. I'm currently waiting for autism/adhd assessment and hope to be able to hold onto a job once I figure out what's not working in my brain. Trying to live a normal life has been a struggle.

I do work but even I'm starting to wonder if a man like this would make life easier - not for marriage, just as a BF. Ideally just companion.

i get the impression they are rare though.

ouch12345 · 21/09/2022 11:39

Yes he is pretty amazing, I don't know what it do without him.

N27 · 21/09/2022 11:42

My first husband most definitely made my life harder, he was an extra child in the house and I’d had enough of it.

I had 5 years as a single parent and can honestly say it was much easier than being with him.

My husband now is an absolute hero of a man. We generally work together as a good team, I do all the cooking, he does all the cleaning, we both do childcare things, he helps me with my business and I make his packed lunches.

when it comes to filling in for each other if one of us is away or ill, I can hand on heart say he manages to keep all balls in the air in my absence whereas I wouldn’t be able to do all the things he does.

WishIWasACavewoman · 21/09/2022 11:44

Brilliant set of insights, @NotLactoseFree , thank you. I need to take some if this on board. I write long mental lists of all the things I'm doing while also breadwinning, and hear myself chuntering grumpily about semi-emptied dishwashers. I'm going to re-read your post and see if I can shift us to a more constructive place.

frozendaisy · 21/09/2022 11:47

Yes everyday. Well perhaps not everyday..
.....

magaluf1999 · 21/09/2022 11:48

Ive had one who made my life harder.

Ive now got one who makes my
Life infinitely easier.

It actually takes a lot of getting used to. One day i had stripped the bed. Id got as far as getting the new bedding out but not put it on yet. A couple of hours later i walked upstairs and the bed was made. I was genuinely flabbergasted. He looked at me puzzled and just said 'well it clearly needed doing'.
I could have wept with joy at having found such a good one.

MrsNobodyMM · 21/09/2022 11:48

He pays for everything including private school fees so I don't have to work but can it I choose to. Consequently I do absolutely everything else. It's probably fair enough.

Dacadactyl · 21/09/2022 11:49

100% he makes it easier.

He is a great husband and an even better father. He is unselfish and hard working.

MolliciousIntent · 21/09/2022 11:50

Yes, massively.

I'm able to progress a career I love, because he takes care of our kids.
I'm able to continue breastfeeding our baby through the night, because he gets up with the toddler every single day.
I'm able to continue hobbies which bring me joy, because he's a decent, competent father who never blinks at going solo.
I'm able to enjoy a comfortable home life, because he handles most of the meal planning, cooking and shopping.
I'm able to keep on top of my dodgy mental health, because he's kind, considerate, supportive and not afraid of telling me I'm being a shit.

NotLactoseFree · 21/09/2022 11:51

WishIWasACavewoman · 21/09/2022 11:44

Brilliant set of insights, @NotLactoseFree , thank you. I need to take some if this on board. I write long mental lists of all the things I'm doing while also breadwinning, and hear myself chuntering grumpily about semi-emptied dishwashers. I'm going to re-read your post and see if I can shift us to a more constructive place.

Before things came to a head with us (over the lack of vacuuming around a doorway! - talk about straw that broke a camel's back), I did quite a lot of this. It was actually quite helpful because it allowed me to contextualise what was really happening and meant I had concrete examples when we were discussing things. At one point, I actually kept a diary - a daily list of all the "extra" tasks that I'd done that day. eg, for today, that would be: 1. Re-organised social event after email from school re a parent/teacher meeting, 2. Ordered am Amazon Fresh delivery for the basic stuff we're running out of 3. Logged on to check DS' homework notifications 4. took a call from DS to agree he can go to a friend's after school today. 5. Contacted DD's school re lactose intolerance.... Plus the normal stuff like putting a load on or emptying the dishwasher etc.

As things started to improve, i wrote those lists on DH's behalf as well to remind myself what he WAS doing.