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How to deal with wife doing this?

I'm hurt, angry and fed up again. I took care of our son all day and enjoyed it. Wish I had more time to spend with him.

But at the end of the evening around 6-8pm I tried repeatedly calling and messaging my wife to confirm what time she would be home because I'm night shift. She had kept the block on my phone number so I had to use the silent number feature on the phone to get around it and call her. She continued to ignore my calls and messages.

I was angry that I tried to find her but there was no sign of her at her company. Typical Saturday night I figured she must be out with her colleagues, clients or possibly up to no good. I'll never know for sure.

But I thought if she prioritises friends and a night out over her husband and 2 year old son, then she isn't really worth keeping in my life long term. There's a whole background of this behaviour and her running off on our newborn son, getting violent to me etc etc.

I took it out on myself and blamed myself last night. Called myself stupid and dumb for continuing to put up with her. I won't behave like her because I want to be there for my son and show I'm the responsible parent.

But there's a small issue with the morning after my first night shift. I cannot trust her at all to look after my son. She will run off and leave me with no sleep and no way to rest before my next night shift. My parents are away because my grandfather passed away a few days ago. So I feel compelled to hire an airbnb and stay there for rest.

Update:

Staying in the airbnb could be seen as abandoning the family? I feel forced to do that to stop my wife taking off and leaving me in a compromised and dangerous position for both my job and driving to and from it. Not to mention care of my son when I haven't slept all night. I cannot afford a baby sitter and have no other friends for support.

Update 2:

We also sleep in separate beds. She blames feeling too crowded with our son. She wants him to co sleep with us. I feel like I have little choice with the lack of room and her wanting to take up the spare room with ensuite. She even keeps her own bathroom.

Update 3:

I do all the work in the home. Cooking, cleaning, washing, caring for my son. I prepare him for daycare, buy his clothes. Today I took him to an Easter event. This week I will help decorate an Easter hat for his daycare Easter hat parade. I feel like I'm his mum and dad combined.

Update 4:

I think there's some confusion. I do work. Shift work. Mostly night shift. Son is in daycare full time Monday to Friday. Routine is for me to spend the weekends with him unless I'm night duty. That's when I would take him to my parents' home. Weekdays I get home from night shift and get my son up for school. Then pick him up in the evenings and spend the time with him before work. It gets very tiring.

Update 5:

I'm also studying nursing part time but the workload is getting harder. I'm spread between full time job, part time study and primary carer for my son and the home.

Update 6:

Thanks for all the community input. I tried a non threatening enquiry into why she blocked my phone and just got shouted down at and told she has a bad mood. Bad mood I guess because she had to wake early to care for our son so I can sleep. He woke me anyway. Realised I should've stayed in the airbnb.

Liked the answer about guarding against burn out. I'm already behind in assignments and asking for extensions so you're right. Between time for my son and home, I can't work on overdue assignments

Update 7:

Her anger included demands to get up and change my son's nappy (he wears one overnight). She was shouting that she would put dirty nappy on my head. She was shouting and kicking the door. Not a good look for our son. I didn't change the nappy and she didn't come near me with it despite the angry threats.

Update 8:

I only got up to give him the Amazon parcel. It was a bright monster shapes money box. He is turning 3 soon and I'm trying to introduce the concepts of money and saving. I already gave him money and helped him to choose the candy he wanted and pay for it a couple of weeks ago. Next will be more role playing like doctor-patient, cash-buying pretend groceries shopping exercise etc.

21 Answers

Relevance
  • 1 month ago

    Dude, if you can't trust your wife with your child then go.  Rest assured if you were a gal writing almost the same thing, every woman in America would be calling you every dirty word in the book and telling her to get out.

    Get a log book and document everything she says and every time she lies or is not there to responsibly pick up her child. Without that log book any complaint you have will just be considered grumbling.

    And Garry, if your place of employment tells you you are on night shift 99% of the people on this planet do not have a chance to say no.

  • garry
    Lv 6
    1 month ago

    best you both work day shift like  normal couples , or maybe she looking for it else where , after all your night shift arent you . your doing so you fix it either way .

  • ?
    Lv 6
    1 month ago

    It seems she doesn't want to be a mother or a wife.  I'll almost bet a paycheck that she's not far from stepping out on you with another.

    .

  • n2mama
    Lv 7
    1 month ago

    You’ve posted for years about your wife’s abusive behavior, and despite being given all kinds of advice ranging from getting counseling to getting divorced, you’ve done none of it. You also posted a question recently about your job and the issues you’ve had with punctuality and your boss’s irritation with your chronic tardiness, so this is impacting a lot of your life. If you continue to wallow and have no willingness to take active steps to change your situation, you will be unemployed and still married and raising a child in an abusive relationship.

    Get help for your codependency issues so that you can finally find the courage to break free. Because yes, you’re a coward to continue to live like this, despite all the signs you’ve had for YEARS that this is an unhealthy and toxic environment not just for you, but also for your son. Don’t make excuses about your finances, or the debts for homes your wife has purchased or cultural differences or any of the other excuses you’ve made for years. Or if you aren’t going to make any changes, accept your lot in life and stop posting pointless questions about it.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    1 month ago

    If you are both working, can you really not afford the occasional baby sitter? 

    If she won't answer her phone, perhaps she is with another man - something you must have considered/. I am tempted to suggest that she may have had some sort of depression - or breakdown even following giving birth. Naturally we do not know anything at all what she is thinking and feeling, but it is a bit of concern that she does absolutely nothing for her family or her home. If asked, would she agree? 

  • 1 month ago

    sir, you are headed for complete burnout and disaster (auto crash or work mistake).  You are trying to balance FT position, PT studies, and de facto single parent. You must prioritize rest, work, and baby son, not nursing or wife.  

    "then she isn't really worth keeping in my life long term": not if there's a serious communication gap.

    "I cannot afford a baby sitter":  that sounds like the most logical and obvious solution.

    Please give yourself at least 6 hrs/ 24 of downtime. 

  • 1 month ago

    Sounds like she may have mental issues, could be Bipolar?

  • ?
    Lv 7
    1 month ago

     Two things to say

    Firstly a question.   Why share your marital problem with strangers?

    Then some advice.   Seek a marriage enrichment course 

    Marriages are worth working on 

  • 1 month ago

    maybe you should hire someone to babysit him so you can go to work

  • Pearl
    Lv 7
    1 month ago

    maybe you should hire someone to babysit so you can work

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