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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

Anybody live(d) with a partner who cannot accept that TODDLER'S MAKE MESS! And living in a house will make it looked lived in, FFS!

33 replies

caspercat · 01/03/2008 14:53

And is there a solution?? We are very lucky to have a playroom for 19mth old DD (although she just tends to bring her toys into the kitchen instead, but they always go back). She doesn't write on walls (yet!), or throw her food around, and at the end of the day she always helps me 'play tidy-up'. Yet DD has said we've trashed the house, and the house has gone down in value since we moved here because of it! I try to explain that day to day living will have an effect on how the house appears, he says i don't realise how much things cost, and i also don't care. I think i keep as clean & tidy a home as poss, do a huge clean once a week, must wash dishes 8 times a day, and constantly sweep & mop kitchen floor!
When DD is eating (which she does very well), things will sometimes end up on the floor (which i always clean away), but he 'tutts' and is practically standing under her with a cloth. Am worried she's going to end up with OCD re cleanliness if this carries on.
And now this weekend, with my parents visiting for Mother's Day, he's just had a go at me cos they brought their dog (which they always do), and he's worried the newly laid wooden(ish) floors will get marked!! It's only a poor little Yorkie, not a huge Great Dane. and he's a vey clean, no trouble at all little doggie.
Sorry for the huge post, but am getting very worn down arguing this point constantly, and i know that he just thinks i'm wrong, but what can i do about it? It's like he wants to live in a show home. God help when we start potty training her

OP posts:
VictorianSqualor · 02/03/2008 11:58

Oh Gosh, no, don't take him to dirtier houses, DP would get even worse, he'd get paranoid our house was like theirs!

Squonks got it right, do a mad rush round before he gets in, half hour or so is plenty, don't dust or hoover or scrub the kitchen in the morning, because even though you have done it, even without beign touched a few hours later it won't look as clean.

I always pick anything up, polish and wipe the kitchen sides before he gets in. It then looks acceptable to his standards and smells nicer too.

hellish · 02/03/2008 13:36

I often make references to friends' houses which are messier than ours. Never thought it could make things worse. Thanks for link on OCD - I'll have a look.

caspercat · 02/03/2008 13:44

Unfortunately, DH is constantly comparing our house to his friends houses (loaded friends!), who either have live-in bloody help, or away on business so much they're never at home anyway. Doesn't occur to him that they may have had a mad cleaning spree before they knew any visitors were coming!
Anyway, i confronted him last night, & told him the only way he'd get the house in the condition he likes is if he lives by himself, and that could be the only solution. TBH, i think at the moment he'd quite happily do without me, but the thought of losing DD (albeit temporarily) brought him back to reality. We had a long chat, and, with quite a few compromises on both sides, have hopefully drawn a line under it. We shall see!! Thanks for all the advice, and the links, and i shall lurk around to see if any fellow sufferers achieve anything!!

OP posts:
Blu · 02/03/2008 13:49

CC - it does sound a counselling issue, really.

It sounds as if a huge amount of cleaning is going on in your house, for a one-child household, where the child is out for 3 days.

Would it be possible to attend counselling ehile your child is at nursery on your non-working day? At the very beginning or end of the day, perhaps, depending on nursery opening hours and your DP's work?

Otherwise, would you feel able to talk to your MI about it and get her to help talk to your DH?

He sounds very very anxious and uptight...does he enjoy being with his dd, or just see her a source of mess?

Blu · 02/03/2008 13:50

Sorry - x-posted.

Hope it works out - well done for being upfront and direct with him!

StarlightMcKenzie · 02/03/2008 17:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

GrapefruitMoon · 02/03/2008 17:55

This is my favourite response to these types of threads...

One afternoon a man came home from work to find total mayhem in his house.
His three children were outside, still in their pajamas, playing in the mud,
with empty food boxes and wrappers strewn all around the front yard. The door of
his wife's car was open, as was the front door to the house.

Proceeding into the hall, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked
over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. In the front room the TV
was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys
and various items of clothing. In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast
food was spilled on the counter, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken
glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes,
looking for his wife. He was worried she may be ill, or that something serious
had happened.

He found her lounging in the bedroom, still curled in the bed in her pajamas,
reading a novel. She looked up at him,
smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked,"What happened here today?"

She again smiled and answered, "You know every day when you come home from work
and you ask me what in the world did I do today?"

"Yes" was his incredulous reply.

She answered, "Well, today I didn't do it."

Oblomov · 02/03/2008 17:57

Grapefruit, I like it.

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