+1 This is where I fall. All the women trying to turn every single example into the line in the sand that would make them file for divorce are really talking about already shitty marriages that this is just the last straw for them. But in my otherwise pretty great marriage, if DH couldn't find the tahini, I'm not going to rap him on the knuckles and send him back to Safeway. It's more about the golden rule than anything else - if I messed up something mundane and unremarkable and he turned it into a "teachable moment" about how useless I was around the house, well . . . that would be my line in the sand where I started thinking about divorce. People are bringing baggage to this thread and then calling it objective truth. |
| If my DH asked me to clean the bathroom and then walked me in afterwards pointing out where I missed spots, I would hand him the paper towels, say “have fun!” and never do it again. Who would talk to an adult like this? |
1) Make him clean up the accidents. 2) No big deal, no baby is drinking bottles at age 10 or 5 and if he's weaned off bottles already its not that big a deal. But also, if he's weaned off bottles have your husband move all bottles into storage and then they're not even there. 3) This would bother me if it was not a one off and I'd say it was not ok and it would turn into a large fight if he wouldn't come around but my response would not be to stop leaving the kids with him, it would be to keep leaving the kisd with him until he stopped or to leave him or go to marital counseling. It would be an ever present issue until we reached common ground. 4) My 2 yo constantly bumps himself, I think its a part of learning how to move your body, this I would consider a normal part of growing up unless they were egregious safety oversights like regularly falling off a high spot or something. |
I should have more clearly stated that if, when you do this, your husband refuses to be uncomfortable and refuses to take that on, seriously consider ending the marriage or undergo serious counseling. My comment is not meant to excuse men who will not play ball, sorry if it read that way. |
Sometimes things are objectively wrong. There is such a think as an objectively bad job at cleaning the bathroom. This kind of relativism is absurd, and bad for society when it seeps into our general discourse. Not all opinions are valid. |
I'll also add to this that all of these examples are implying that he wasn't involved year one. They need to be involved and depended on from DAY 1 not day 366 or day 731. If the ship has sailed on that then it will be a difficult and rough transition likely for everyone involved but its still worth forcing. Kids will be fine, none of those things is going to permanently damage a kid, you just need to work through the middle part where he probably yes, won't totally know what he's doing. |
You're so great, but you can't even read the OP (which concerns DH's who have issues much deeper than "not being able to find the tahini" every so often.) |
Imagine if the "adult" left all the poop stains in the toilet and completely forgot the sink bowl altogether. What would you say? |
DP this is true but I have heard from many MANY women who complain to me about their husband not doing something right and they seem nuts to me ie, having to refold towels he folds. Remake a dinner that the kids didn't like. |
This thread has drifted far, far from the OP. I'm responding to the thread, as I state pretty clearly. Good reading. |
See here's what you're not getting with men like this. There's no "make them" do anything. It would go like this in my household: I arrive home and see that 2 year old is sitting in wet, cold, smelly underwear on the couch and has obviously been like that for hours. Me (probably looking/sounding upset): "DH, why is Larla sitting in her wet underwear? Could you please change her?" DH: "Why are you always nagging me?" Me: Could you please just change her while I put the groceries away? It smells and she gets rashes. DH: You're crazy. Why do you always get so mad? (Walks away.) |
Exactly this. The mess and cleaning it up is not the issue. The issue is that it’s unacceptable for my child to sit in soiled underwear for hours. |
And then also expects to be thanked/appreciated for “helping” by cleaning the bathroom! |
Not folding the towels the correct way isn't an objectively bad job, obviously. But "cleaning" something that is still dirty after the "cleaning" is finished? That's incomplete, and needs to be fixed. This really needn't be that difficult. |
I guess I'm not getting it because I cannot imagine a world where that is the end of the conversation in my house. That would result in a two hour long discussion after the kids had gone to bed about the importance of being observant with the kids and, much more importantly, the importance of talking to me with respect in front of the kids and the gross violation of calling me crazy. The exchange you describe above would result in an enormous fight in my house. And if nothing changed after enough of those I really would leave. I would absolutely not be spoken to like that. |