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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

Slammed door

22 replies

Theweatherisawful23 · 10/03/2023 08:08

Is shouting and slamming doors ever ok? I’m so upset but he said I caused the argument. The kids heard it all.

OP posts:
Cleotolstoy · 10/03/2023 08:13

You're not responsible for how he handled his feelings. Is he responsible for yours. It's a big red flag when someone lays that on you. Mature adults have too much self respect to use that line. I'm guessing there is a history of coercive control, walking on egg shells and so on. It might not be something you've wanted to think about before but there's clearly an abusive dynamic underpinning this relationship.

Theweatherisawful23 · 10/03/2023 08:16

History yes. But he is utterly convinced I cause all the rows. I’m inconsiderate and nice to everyone but not him he says. I feel so awful that my kids saw it all before school but today I tried to stand up for myself so it all escalated. Often I just back down for peace. But my head is melted… maybe it is me? He is so level headed and intelligent with everyone else. I hate the lesson they are learning. And now I have this hanging over me all day.

OP posts:
AttilaTheMeerkat · 10/03/2023 08:37

No, shouting and slamming of doors is never ok. This is domestic abuse and besides which he is making you feel responsible for his actions; another tactic that abusers use against their target. His history of such behaviour and giving you spaghetti head are symptomatic of being in an abusive relationship.

How can you be helped here into leaving your abuser?. What do you need here?

What did you learn about relationships when you were growing up?. Did you also see similar at home?.

The only acceptable level of abuse in a relationship is none. That is a relationship lesson your children also need to learn. What do you want to teach them about relationships and what are they learning here?. You two are providing the blueprint for their own adult relationships.

Abusers are often quite plausible to those in the outside world so I am not surprised you write that he is level head and intelligent with everyone else. He likes it also when you try to stand up for yourself and or answer back because that gives him an additional challenge to take you down.

Abuse is not about communication or a perceived lack of; its about power and control and he wants absolute here over both you and your kids.

Would you be willing and or able to contact Womens Aid?. Please consider calling them; your children will also thank you for doing so as well. They are being affected in seeing you being used as a verbal punchbag by their dad. Their home is not the sanctuary it should be.

Cleotolstoy · 10/03/2023 08:37

And that suits him just fine, for you to feel confused. He's trained you to be obedient and bewildered The last thing he wants is for you to have any clarity. That's not a loving life partner. You have to get to that place that what you think is important, because it should be. And anyone who loves and respects you would want that more than anything.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 10/03/2023 08:39

And no its not you, its him. This is all on him. Its not your fault that he has decided to embark on his own private based war against you.

What do you know if anything much about his own family background?.

determinedtomakethiswork · 10/03/2023 08:58

Who was slamming the door?

Theweatherisawful23 · 10/03/2023 09:09

He slammed the door. What I thought was a discussion escalated to fury in 30 seconds. I have ring WA on multiple occasions. I just feel so trapped, my kids love him and need a stable home. I think I need to change my attitude ?? Can that happen? Even if I could not be so concerned about annoying him it might help me.

OP posts:
Theweatherisawful23 · 10/03/2023 09:10

I had a gorgeous loving home and father. He’s dead but my God it would break his heart to think of me being yelled at.

OP posts:
carriedout · 10/03/2023 09:15

In many marriages/families/even workplaces people have shouted or slammed a door.

However this I have ring WA on multiple occasions is a whole different kettle of fish - this is not about a slammed door it is presumably because you feel afraid?

I am sorry you feel this way and hope you can find a path to a different situation. Keep talking to WA Flowers

Theweatherisawful23 · 10/03/2023 09:22

I guess that’s what I’m asking. Is a slammed door ever normal? It was not in my parents marriage. I might have slammed one door as a teenager but got such a fright I never did again ! So when there are slammed doors and shouting in my marriage I get very upset but he says it’s normal and I drove him to it . So maybe I’m wrong ?

OP posts:
Theweatherisawful23 · 10/03/2023 09:24

He has just texted to say he won’t speak to me any more. The usual pattern is I apologise, beg him to talk to me etc. now I’m thinking maybe I just - won’t? Maybe I’ll just let things unfold? I’m not physically scared of him. Maybe I’ll just … let things develop and see what happens if I don’t apologise ?

OP posts:
BodenCardiganNot · 10/03/2023 09:26

I think you need to think of your children now. The atmosphere in the home must be awful.

BCBird · 10/03/2023 09:26

It might be normal for ur husband if that is what he witnessed, however it is not behaviour most people would find acceptable. Ssying that,my parents behaved like this but I actively chose not to snd also do not spend time with people who exhibit this kind of behaviour. It horrible when there is an atmosphere . Hope you find sime resolution.

GoldDuster · 10/03/2023 09:30

Yes, your kids do need a stable home, and this isn't it OP

Clinging on for their sake isn't helping

carriedout · 10/03/2023 09:32

Theweatherisawful23 · 10/03/2023 09:22

I guess that’s what I’m asking. Is a slammed door ever normal? It was not in my parents marriage. I might have slammed one door as a teenager but got such a fright I never did again ! So when there are slammed doors and shouting in my marriage I get very upset but he says it’s normal and I drove him to it . So maybe I’m wrong ?

How many homes have had a door slammed at some point? Presumably loads. Are they all bad homes? No.

You are saying your relationship is bad enough to be phoning WA. That is not acceptable.

What I think is more concerning is this bit: I drove him to it.

You are trying to make sense of one aspect - the door slamming - but really you need to be looking at the blame and the general fear in your home.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 10/03/2023 09:32

You did not drive him to do any of this; this is all on him. This is the sort of thing abusers say to their chosen target.

He totally dictates the mood of the household and he is now further emotionally abusing you by stating he will no longer speak to you aka the silent treatment. That is being done by him to further punish you for some transgression you have committed in his head.

Aquamarine1029 · 10/03/2023 09:36

The "stable home" you think your kids are living in is an absolute lie. You are teaching your children that toxicity and abuse are normal in a relationship, and this example is going to taint the rest of their lives.

It's time to take the blinders off, stop being in denial, and admit this environment is horrible for your kids. It's time for you to leave him.

AttilaTheMeerkat · 10/03/2023 09:37

Your kids need a stable home and their home too should be a sanctuary. What they have now is akin to a warzone where their dad has embarked on his own private based war against you. They are also caught up in this.

Do not further make his abuses of you and in turn them the cornerstone of their childhoods because they seeing domestic abuse will affect them. You cannot protect them from his abuses of you and they whilst you are all under the same roof.

BigPussyEnergy · 10/03/2023 09:38

Threatening to stonewall you is another way of abusing you.

This isn’t a stable home for your children. Once they are settled elsewhere (or he is) and they come to terms with the change, they will adjust to a new family situation.

Don’t be scared by stats about lone parents and childhood outcomes etc. It is always better for a child to live without the spectre of domestic abuse hanging over them than to remain with both parents together where one is abusing the other with shouting, slamming, the silent treatment etc.

I honestly know what a hard choice this is to make. I had to end my 9 year relationship last year for similar reasons - he would (very occasionally) swear at me and throw things, but not at me, just in general.

He was so nice the rest of the time that each time it happened I would try to work out how to prevent it happening again and keep the loving vibes we had 90% of the time. It was a tense atmosphere sometimes and I tried my hardest not to rock the boat, but got to a point where if he asked what was wrong I’d say “nothing, I’m fine” because I knew it would escalate. Then he’d push it, saying he could tell I wasn’t fine. I’d tell him I wasn’t going into it because I knew how it would end. He’d push it again, I’d finally try talking in the gentlest terms possible and bam! Massive argument ensued where he would be nasty and end up slamming doors and leaving.

It was like Groundhog Day, I could tell you word for word how it would go, and nothing I did or said would change the outcome.

If it was just the one slammed door in anger I’d say a conversation about acceptable behaviour and boundaries was worth a try. But it sounds like an ongoing pattern of intimidation and emotional
abuse. The only influence you can have here is on your own reaction to it. You can’t change him. You can only decide what sort of life you want to live.

Its taken me over a year to get over my breakup and I still have the odd wobble where I miss him. But I know I 100% did the right thing for myself and my kids. They have seen that I’m not willing to accept such shitty treatment and hopefully they will all grow up with better relationship expectations because of it. You can do it. It will be hard. But it’s necessary for their well-being as well as yours.

carriedout · 10/03/2023 09:40

If a couple had a row about something and one slammed the door on the way out saying 'I'm going for a fucking walk' and then came back and said 'I'm sorry I lost my cool, I was out of order' that would be a scenario I could see as 'normal'.

For someone to slam a door and then blame the other person and turn on the silent treatment is an entirely different matter.

You have to look beyond the single action and look at the overall picture and whether you feel afraid. If you feel afraid it is not a good relationship.

You are questioning yourself but I think you know this is not right.

purpledalmation · 10/03/2023 09:53

Guess what? I bet you feel happier and calmer when he isn't speaking to you because you don't have to speak to him. Get your finances in order and look at divorce as you need to escape his coercive control.

Theweatherisawful23 · 10/03/2023 10:12

BigPussyEnergy · 10/03/2023 09:38

Threatening to stonewall you is another way of abusing you.

This isn’t a stable home for your children. Once they are settled elsewhere (or he is) and they come to terms with the change, they will adjust to a new family situation.

Don’t be scared by stats about lone parents and childhood outcomes etc. It is always better for a child to live without the spectre of domestic abuse hanging over them than to remain with both parents together where one is abusing the other with shouting, slamming, the silent treatment etc.

I honestly know what a hard choice this is to make. I had to end my 9 year relationship last year for similar reasons - he would (very occasionally) swear at me and throw things, but not at me, just in general.

He was so nice the rest of the time that each time it happened I would try to work out how to prevent it happening again and keep the loving vibes we had 90% of the time. It was a tense atmosphere sometimes and I tried my hardest not to rock the boat, but got to a point where if he asked what was wrong I’d say “nothing, I’m fine” because I knew it would escalate. Then he’d push it, saying he could tell I wasn’t fine. I’d tell him I wasn’t going into it because I knew how it would end. He’d push it again, I’d finally try talking in the gentlest terms possible and bam! Massive argument ensued where he would be nasty and end up slamming doors and leaving.

It was like Groundhog Day, I could tell you word for word how it would go, and nothing I did or said would change the outcome.

If it was just the one slammed door in anger I’d say a conversation about acceptable behaviour and boundaries was worth a try. But it sounds like an ongoing pattern of intimidation and emotional
abuse. The only influence you can have here is on your own reaction to it. You can’t change him. You can only decide what sort of life you want to live.

Its taken me over a year to get over my breakup and I still have the odd wobble where I miss him. But I know I 100% did the right thing for myself and my kids. They have seen that I’m not willing to accept such shitty treatment and hopefully they will all grow up with better relationship expectations because of it. You can do it. It will be hard. But it’s necessary for their well-being as well as yours.

This sounds very familiar. It would almost be easier if it was horrible all the time. Instead it’s occasional and just occasional enough for me to think it’s ok. I know if I apologise today I can scrape a weekend back together

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