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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

Am I going crazy?? Or is my husband a c*ck?

137 replies

CalicoPony · 01/05/2023 22:10

Really struggling to validate my position and could do with some help figuring it out.

we are due to move to France in 3 months (husband is french, we lived there together for 6 years, we have 2 kids born in France)

Husband is very avoidant when it comes to anything important - fear of failure makes him sort of freeze up and he buries his head in the sand. We both know this and we (mostly me) try and mitigate it by planning ahead and breaking big tasks into smaller ones to make them less terrifying.

anyway, the move has him very very stressed and he is refusing to talk about it, do any planning, organise his work etc.

tonight I tried to talk to him about it, said we have 3 months left so we should start thinking about finding a place to live (we will rent while we look for a place to buy), think about packing, etc.

he is scrolling on his
phone and generally irritated that I’ve brought it up. So I ask when would be a good time to talk about it. He says he doesn’t know. Then I say how should I respond when you say that (I genuinely don’t know) - he says he doesn’t know. I ask when would be a good time to talk about it. He gets annoyed, bangs his hand on the table, says ‘Fine! What do you want to say?!’ I’m taken aback and pause. He carries on ‘Go on then!!!’

I say I’m not wanting to just announce something, just that we should have a conversation and do some planning, or it will be more stressful because everything will be last minute. He says it’s already too late, it will be a shitshow. Gets up, walks out of the room. I give him a couple of minutes then go in and calmly (I was very sure to be calm) tell
him that I think he’s being unreasonable and that his behaviour is upsetting. He laughs facetiously and mutters something like ‘what a surprise’ and leaves the house.

this isn’t an isolated incident, it happens pretty much any time I talk to him about important stuff. In fact pretty much every time I talk to him about anything.

i know he is stressed and I want to support him. I want us to be a team and work together through the challenges. But he always seems to want to set himself against me - like it’s easier for him to blame all his difficulties on me than to actually face up to life.

im trying not to black and white about it but genuinely feel that he doesn’t love me, doesn’t enjoy being part of our family, and just wants to be left alone with his phone.

for context, we both work full time and with two young kids, life can be pretty full on. But we’re not on the breadline and have a lot to be grateful for.

i have lost all sense of perspective on whether I’m being unreasonable or not. He seems convinced that I’m a nagging bitch and that he has done nothing wrong. But his entitlement and disengagement and ingratitude are really getting to me. Am I going crazy???

OP posts:
Doggydarling · 01/05/2023 22:32

He's making everything your responsibility so he can blame 'the shit show' on you. It's something I recognise from when my son was a teenager and even in to his twenties, its an absolute fear of getting things wrong which leads to procrastination which leads to things not being done in time so a bigger chance of failure and less change of the person doing whatever is necessary because they are almost paralysed with the thought of failing. Thankfully my son realised what he was doing and learnt to deal with things and face them, to ask for help early on if he was unsure of what needed to be done but your husband is still behaving like a teenager. I'd be cautious about moving country with him, especially as he seems to become abusive when he's not dealing with life.

CalicoPony · 01/05/2023 22:36

@Doggydarling this describes him perfectly. I have been trying to do as you said and support him to become less risk averse/more confident. But he is aware that he has this issue and still seems to be paralysed by it. Plus he has children, responsibilities - so there’s only so much leeway I can give him

OP posts:
barmycatmum · 01/05/2023 22:36

No you are not unreasonable. You are being an adult, and he is stonewalling you and acting like a avoidant teenager.

how frustrating. I would not move with him. He’s too childish

XLáBealtaine · 01/05/2023 22:37

@Shortpoet yeh, my x tried to have me ordered to return with the children , I had escaped him, he was abusive but eu law supported him. As I had removed dc from their habitual domicile. It cost me 2k to hire a barrister and I was lucky the judge picked up on a few details he considered relevant. At that time judges were just applying Hague convention 9 times out of ten, no examination in to why the mother might have taken children back to where she had support.

CalicoPony · 01/05/2023 22:40

@FangsForTheMemory yes maybe - that would mean that when things go wrong (that’s life right?) he can blame it on me. But that’s not a tenable way of existing.
we do have a dynamic where any change is driven by me.

OP posts:
CurlewKate · 01/05/2023 22:41

@CalicoPony If he wasn't around, what would you want to be doing for the next 5 years? Where would you like to live?

LivingDeadGirlUK · 01/05/2023 22:42

I don't think I would be making any future plans with this man OP.

Shinyandnew1 · 01/05/2023 22:45

Does he want to move to France?

Pixiedust1234 · 01/05/2023 22:46

He doesn't want to move. He doesn't want to be a team member. He doesn't want your support. It looks like he doesn't want you either. Does he do much with the children?

Who decided on this move as I suspect this is more your dream than his. I would also worry about taking the children back to his country when your marriage doesn't seem to be strong. Judges will prefer him, not you, to be the rp.

Mochinated · 01/05/2023 22:46

I don't understand why you're bending over backwards to "help" him like he's your client and you're his nanny/psychotherapist? Is he not an adult male?

Do you not have dreams or plans of your own for a life for you and the kids? Why is he the one who gets to set the tone? Genuinely. What are YOU getting out of this charade

Merryoldgoat · 01/05/2023 22:47

I wouldn’t go to the shops with him let alone a different country.

ElizaMulvil · 01/05/2023 22:49

Did you get married in France? If so, under which regime - communaute des biens or separation des biens? You know that you will get very little/ nothing for yourself from whatever your husband owns if you divorce in France and it's the latter.

It sounds as though your husband is checking out of the marriage.

HadalyEve · 01/05/2023 22:50

CalicoPony · 01/05/2023 22:18

Mainly house prices. I’d like some land to grow veg, have some chickens etc and we’d have to be millionaires to afford that in this area

You’d like some land to add yet more work to an already busy life.
Are you sure this is what he and the children also want? He may have agreed and this is his immature sabotage way of expressing his real feelings.

mummymeister · 01/05/2023 22:52

God your relationship must be exhausting. no wonder you want to run away and set up your own commune in france. what do your kids think about this? what happens when you get bored of the good life do you try and uproot them again and move which will be very tricky without his consent. best advice i ever got, you take your baggage with you. different country, different view from the window same shit relationship. why not move to a cheaper part of the uk they do exist you know.

HerMammy · 01/05/2023 22:57

How can you be 'moving in 3 months' when there's nothing to move to?
Sounds like you fancy a move but haven't done anything, you won't conjure up a house in such a short time, so you two ever sit down and talk??

MairzyDoats · 01/05/2023 23:00

So is moving a joint decision or mostly driven by you? Is he definitely on board with the plan?

CalicoPony · 01/05/2023 23:04

@HadalyEve hmm I thought I knew the answer to that but maybe you’re right - he doesn’t want to go. I’m not sure he does know what he wants.
the idea of moving to France is so we could work less and have better quality of life (my physical health doesn’t agree with the climate here, I have an autoimmune condition)

OP posts:
CalicoPony · 01/05/2023 23:06

@ElizaMulvil i actually have no idea…
But we have no assets to speak of - and I am the higher earner by quite a bit

OP posts:
LizzieSiddal · 01/05/2023 23:06

He’s a cock. However can you tell us all if he really wants to move or is it your dream?

Also, as others have said divorce in France is very different to the Uk, it seems draconian in comparison.

Ottersmith · 01/05/2023 23:10

Hmm could you buy the patch of land then not move? Put a caravan on it for holidays and long stays? If he doesn't see a therapist about this maybe you would be better off doing your own thing.

Theunamedcat · 01/05/2023 23:11

Drop the rope don't organise a thing get on with life here if he still wants to move he can organise it your busy at work

LeavesOnTrees · 01/05/2023 23:12

How about Cornwall or Devon ?
It sounds like he doesn't want to move and is just being a passenger in his life.

Comfywumfy · 01/05/2023 23:12

This sounds exactly like my ex, he was a decent guy and a loving Dad but would throw a strop if he ever had to discuss anything - he’d enthusiastically agree to things but then once it came to any sort of planning or organising around it he’d act like I was forcing my ideas on him when he’d never wanted to go in the first place.

I always assumed that it was because he has ADHD, but maybe it’s some kind of avoidant personality type.

LuluBlakey1 · 01/05/2023 23:14

Don't go- just do not go to France. Different laws re: divorce and custody. You could end up in a right mess. Whatever happens, don't go.

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