Please or to access all these features

30 days only

Is it always going to feel like DH vs DS?

54 replies

LittlePetitePsychopath · Yesterday 14:56

I love them both a lot, obviously. DH is a good man, and a good father. But he wants to move to Spain. He has big regrets about not doing it before - initially because of his mum finding the idea heartbreaking, and then just because work didn't line up.

It vaguely does now. We have visas, we can go. We've done recce visits, and stayed for a few months a year for the last few years... But DS always wants to come home. He has friends here. He missed them, and then preschool.

We weren't financially in a position to go before this summer, and then work commitments stopped me. DS started school. We weren't sure how he'd feel about it, but he loves it. He's made lots of friends, he loves walking to school, he's even chosen to go to half-term club one day. He's learned so much. He does not want to leave. It's been a pain in the arse for my career - it usually requires some fun travel that we've always done together, and school can't authorise that these days - but I'm really proud and happy for him.

DH says that he doesn't like our town; he feels you have to drive everywhere, prices are going up, quality of life is going down, he misses the sun. He has SAD and a medical condition that are both better in the sun, and he generally feels a bit energised in it. It also gives him distance from his parents, who he seems incapable of maintaining boundaries with, and who have no idea of social norms. He has been honest that the distance is a selling point to him; alongside that he would feel like he'd achieved something in life.

DD doesn't really care, she's one, so she'd probably go with the flow.

But 4-year-old DS hates the idea of leaving his friends and his school and his community, and I really struggle with how I'll ever keep everyone happy...

OP posts:
LaurieFairyCake · Yesterday 21:00

I wouldn’t even have asked him. By the time he notices he lives there rather than on holiday he will already have settled in.

Flatandhappy · Today 04:24

A 4yo doesn’t get to decide, that doesn’t mean you don’t acknowledge his feelings but he can’t be the one who stops the family doing something the rest of you want. When we moved to Aus with three kids aged 3, 8 and 13 the 8yo didn’t want to go. We promised him a house with a pool (he loved swimming) and when it was time to go we shipped every single thing from his room. It was always clear though that going was not negotiable, we were just doing whatever we could to make it easier for him. Best move we ever made.

DangerousThingsILove · Today 05:20

What do YOU want, op?

Bellu · Today 09:03

It seems reasonably clear to the thread that you don't want to go and you're hiding behind your little boy. But he's only four years old and it isn't fair to put this on him. Stand on your own two feet and say what you want yourself. You can do it. I believe in you.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread