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Grandparenting

Husband doesn't want me to look after grandchild once a week

(329 Posts)
Su51nan Mon 31-Jul-23 17:22:08

My husband and I both have children from previous relationships. He has 3 grandchildren which we see occasionally and my daughter had just had her first child, my first grandchild.
I retired early from my job 2 years ago and we have been working together for 2 years full time renovating properties.
I want to look after my grandchild once a week but he says this will affect our work and is not happy for me to do it despite me saying i will work an extra day at the weekend.
If I spend more than a few hours a week with my grandchild he says my life revolves around her but I just want to be close to her and want to help my daughter get back to work without it costing a fortune in childcare.
I don't want to have to choose between them but I'm feeling like it may come to that.

Lathyrus Fri 04-Aug-23 19:42:06

She is talking about leaving him Callistemon.

Choosing between them if he isn’t happy about what she wants.

Don’t you think that suggests her feelings for him have changed.

You don’t walk away from someone you love just because they don’t agree with what you do and have an opinion of your own.

You walk away because you don’t care any more.

Lathyrus Fri 04-Aug-23 19:42:40

opinion of their own

Callistemon21 Fri 04-Aug-23 19:45:39

Delila

Well at least you’re acknowledging that there are two people who “want what they want”, and not just the OP, Lathyrus.

If one party blocks a way forward, the other party may have to make a choice between two opposing options, albeit reluctantly.

However, that’s how things looked from the original post, but things have probably been resolved by now. Perhaps the blockage wasn’t immovable, and harmony has been restored.

Yes, it's called compromise 🙂
Circumstances change, reasonable people adapt to changing circumstances.

Lathyrus Fri 04-Aug-23 19:46:01

If one party blocks a way forward

Do you mean if one party won’t give in to what the other wants?

Anyway she didn’t say he’d blocked it, just that he was unhappy about the effect it was going to have on the business.

Compromise is hard also when one party refuses to take into account the consequences of their decision.

Blondiescot Fri 04-Aug-23 19:48:58

Where does it say she would leave him? 'Choosing between them' doesn't necessarily mean that. But rest assured that if any man attempted to make me choose between him and my children or grandchild - for whatever reason - then that choice would be very easy indeed. And people 'walk away' from relationships for any number of reasons - it certainly doesn't necessarily mean they don't care any more.

VioletSky Fri 04-Aug-23 19:51:37

Yes, I would put my children first too

Lathyrus Fri 04-Aug-23 19:56:39

I don’t know what else “choosing between them “ could mean.
This relationship or this relationship.

I think he was very sensible to say it will have this effect on the business.

It’s the OP that is demanding he’s happy about her choice. And he isn’t.

That’s it. He isn’t happy about her choice. And somehow that makes him controlling and abusive and apparently some kind of monster that terrifies her according to the post above.

He’s not happy with her choice. The business will suffer.

That’s it. That’s all he’s said.

Lathyrus Fri 04-Aug-23 20:10:08

VioletSky

Yes, I would put my children first too

It’s not her child.

The baby already has a loving parents who will put them first.

Dear me, the number of threads we see where parents feel the grandparents are just too intensely involved in their baby.

Lathyrus Fri 04-Aug-23 20:13:09

Imagine if f your mother said she had given up on her marriage so that she was free to soend lots of time with your baby😱

Delila Fri 04-Aug-23 20:20:09

There you go again Lathyrus.

The truth is the OP would like to devote one day a week to being with her new baby grandchild.

Somehow you’ve extended this to mean she intends to give up on her marriage in order to spend time with her new grandchild.

She has put this to her husband, he’s not happy, she has suggested a compromise - why not stick to the only facts we’ve been given. It could lead to trouble, it probably won’t. I doubt if the OP will feel like coming back to tell us.

Smileless2012 Fri 04-Aug-23 20:20:27

"Dear me, the number of threads we see where parents feel the grandparents are too intensely involved in their baby" yes, I said as much earlier Lathyrus.

You couldn't make it up could you.

Delila Fri 04-Aug-23 20:22:54

And by the way, please don’t explain compromise to me again - I’ve been making them all my life, as have most of us I guess.

VioletSky Fri 04-Aug-23 20:29:53

Lathyrus I was agreeing with another poster on family first

How about you try not twisting everything I say for once

Then maybe your comments would have more weight

Blondiescot Fri 04-Aug-23 20:34:41

Delila

There you go again Lathyrus.

The truth is the OP would like to devote one day a week to being with her new baby grandchild.

Somehow you’ve extended this to mean she intends to give up on her marriage in order to spend time with her new grandchild.

She has put this to her husband, he’s not happy, she has suggested a compromise - why not stick to the only facts we’ve been given. It could lead to trouble, it probably won’t. I doubt if the OP will feel like coming back to tell us.

Well said. And I hardly think a grandmother wishing to spend one day a week with her first grandchild suggests someone wishing to be 'too intensively involved'. It seems quite reasonable to me, and I don't even like babies!

Lathyrus Fri 04-Aug-23 20:42:31

If my mum had said Dad isn’t happy about me babysitting do I’ve had to choose between the baby and him and I’ve chosen the baby, my alarm bells would be ringing for sure.

You don’t get much more intense than that.

Blondiescot Fri 04-Aug-23 20:46:10

Lathyrus

If my mum had said Dad isn’t happy about me babysitting do I’ve had to choose between the baby and him and I’ve chosen the baby, my alarm bells would be ringing for sure.

You don’t get much more intense than that.

If my mum had said that, I'd have wanted to know exactly what his problem was. But he's not her dad, is he? And maybe therein lies the rub...

VioletSky Fri 04-Aug-23 20:52:21

I think in most instances, if someone were saying they would choose seeing their grandchild over their husband, it's because the husband trying to prevent it is unhealthy and that sort of unhealthy is manifesting in other ways...

But trying to separate a wife from her family would be a final straw

Lomo123 Fri 04-Aug-23 20:59:09

Some strange responses on here. The man's yet to be born (as my late Mother loved saying) who, d stop me from going to see new grandchild. What difference will it make. I'm with you Blondiescot and Violet Sky can I come for tea and cake?!. Maybe a strong gin required though😁.

Delila Fri 04-Aug-23 21:01:40

What a strange way of interpreting what this post is all about, Lathyrus.

VioletSky Fri 04-Aug-23 21:02:09

Rum for me

I'm a pirate

NotSpaghetti Fri 04-Aug-23 21:21:29

I stoll think that offering one "workaround" that the other party isn't convinced by cannot be called a compromise.

These two need to talk like adults about it.

NotSpaghetti Fri 04-Aug-23 21:21:48

*still think

Delila Fri 04-Aug-23 21:40:18

“Offering one workaround” and “talking like adults about it” are not mutually exclusive - that’s probably what happened next.

icanhandthemback Fri 04-Aug-23 22:00:36

NotSpaghetti

I stoll think that offering one "workaround" that the other party isn't convinced by cannot be called a compromise.

These two need to talk like adults about it.

Exactly!

Lathyrus Fri 04-Aug-23 22:16:36

Delila

What a strange way of interpreting what this post is all about, Lathyrus.

Well I think interpreting the husband as controlling, a bully, sbudive, violent, intimidating, snd more because he is unhappy - posters words- is a pretty strange way of interpreting things too.

But it seems quite a normal thing to some posters.

Don’t dare to disagree or even suggest something might not be a good idea. Especially if it involves a grandchild.

Obviously that’s a very “unhealthy” relationship 🙄