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Son asking me if he should marry his partner

(104 Posts)
Margomar Sun 17-Nov-24 22:42:38

My son has been living with his partner in a house they are buying together. He’s 43, she’s 37, she wants to marry and have a family. He’s tells us he is 70 /30 in favour of marrying her but is obviously not totally convinced . He is a serious person, quite gentle and likes to have deep discussions about politics, books etc and is is sometimes a bit neurotic. His partner really loves him but she is uncomplicated, quite sporty and loves travel, mountaineering. (We get on very well with her) He voiced his doubts to us, his parents, saying that although he loves her, finds her really attractive and good fun, she never wants to talk about any of the serious or darker issues in their lives, such as their differing attitudes to money/finance She just wants problems to “go away” . He thinks their differences could be a problem for him long term.
He has taken a long time to “grow up”, he dossed around smoking dope, trying to be a musician until he was 30, but then pulled himself together and has a professional career.
So I wondered how others would advise their son?

Chocolatelovinggran Mon 18-Nov-24 11:32:19

Oh, and if the son needs to ask....surely that's a no?

Chocolatelovinggran Mon 18-Nov-24 11:31:28

Agree with you silverlining absolutely. My son broke up with his lovely gf in his mid - thirties, as he wasn't sure...he was very sad, but felt that if she wanted children, he couldn't keep her awaiting his decision.
She was married to someone else, and a mother within a couple of years.
Said son did find "the one" shortly after.

silverlining48 Mon 18-Nov-24 11:16:46

If she wants a family she needs to know the situation now because it’s unfair to keep her hanging on. At 37 she doesn’t have a great deal of time, unlike your son who is not time limited if he decides later he would like to be @ father.

Theexwife Mon 18-Nov-24 11:11:19

If she finds out he has asked his mum I doubt she would want to be with him let alone marry.

Hithere Mon 18-Nov-24 10:53:34

He still needs to grow up!

Is he looking for his parents to make the decision for him?

And she needs to run.

Allira Mon 18-Nov-24 10:29:19

I think he should give her a chance of finding someone else who truly loves and aappreciatex her.

He sounds quite self-absorbed and immature, sorry.

lemsip Mon 18-Nov-24 10:25:54

oh, I'm okay. it was a similar story under ask a gram by *Meoew8

lemsip Mon 18-Nov-24 10:20:43

oh dear, I commented on this, wonder where I posted it?

DamaskRose Mon 18-Nov-24 10:16:52

I agree with most on here - listen but don’t give advice.

Lovetopaint037 Mon 18-Nov-24 10:04:19

Doesn’t sound as if he loves her. Just likes her. If she was my daughter I would tell her to not expect commitment from him.

annodomini Mon 18-Nov-24 09:49:09

Does his partner know that he is asking his mother for advice? In her place, I'd have run a mile.

25Avalon Mon 18-Nov-24 09:33:30

Does he love her? This all seems about him. Nothing is certain in life and sometimes we have to take a punt. They could have children without being married if that’s the issue (pardon the pun) as many do these days. If he doesn’t consider his partner’s needs she may walk away.

At the end of the day he is a grown man and has to decide for himself.

David49 Mon 18-Nov-24 09:17:38

If “THEY” want children his partner is 37 it’s time to get on with it, if she wants to give up travel and mountaineering her life is going to change.

It no use saying they will share the child rearing it affects the woman far more than the man, so it’s a matter of what they decide, if there are any doubts dont marry.

M0nica Mon 18-Nov-24 08:41:04

I would not even begin to think of giving anyone advice in a situation like this.Your son is just setting you up so that he can have someone to blame if whatever decision he makes goes wrong.

He is 43 , for heavens sake. if he cannot make a decision whether to marry his long tme girlfriend, mother of his child at that age, he is beyond any help or advice.

Keep yourself well away from this minefield. Tell your son that he has to make his own decisions and you hav no opinion on the matter.

Luckygirl3 Mon 18-Nov-24 08:32:47

My DDs do not discuss their relationships with me, and on the only occasion when this happened I simply said that I cared about them but that I could not get involved - that they had to take full responsibility for their own decisions in their lives.

Clearly if they had been involved in an abusive relationship I would have stepped in.

foxie48 Mon 18-Nov-24 08:24:42

Both of my daughters discuss major decisions with me, neither are asking for advice as such but they like to use me as a sounding board. I find listening, asking reflective questions and being non judgemental gives them time and space to come to a decision. Neither you nor anyone else knows how well any relationship really works so he has to make his own decision and take responsibility for it.

pascal30 Mon 18-Nov-24 08:11:09

If she's a mountaineer she will decide for herself what she wants..he might not be able to keep up with her..

Allsorts Mon 18-Nov-24 07:55:35

He shouldn't have to ask his parents if he should marry, this shows immaturity and I feel for his partner, buying a house together should have shown his commitment to her but hasn’t and its a pity the penny hasn't dropped for her, but it will...

petra Mon 18-Nov-24 07:45:36

You could be talking about my friends son ( common denominator) dope.
This couple didn’t marry but they had a child. That child was taken into care.
I’m wondering what was it about your son that attracted her to your son.
I don’t care what 2 adults want to do, it’s children I care about.

BlueBelle Mon 18-Nov-24 06:53:05

CrazyH exactly they told me and I told my parents

This sounds very strange, and he sounds as if he is much to tangled up with his parents at the age of 43 to be asking their advice Did he ask your advice about buying the home Margotmar ?
He might want to talk about serious subjects with his girl friend but having only started to grow up at the age of 30 it sounds that he’s found a jewel to even be putting up with him I think she should be asking the questions especially if she wants to start a family
He sounds quite self absorbed

Redhead56 Mon 18-Nov-24 00:32:31

He sounds unsure of total commitment he agreed to property together but marriage seems too much for him. He is making excuses criticising her as if looking for an escape route. He needs to grow up get real and she needs to get a real man who knows what he wants.

crazyH Mon 18-Nov-24 00:28:10

Good grief - none of my children asked me - they told me😂

OldFrill Mon 18-Nov-24 00:25:12

Did he ask your advise before committing to the house purchase?

Gillycats Sun 17-Nov-24 23:37:15

If he needs to ask his Mum then I’d say he shouldn’t. And the young lady would be well advised to steer clear of him because he clearly isn’t right for her.

mae13 Sun 17-Nov-24 23:12:41

If he has to ask others to make up his mind for him about something so important then he's not being at all mature. If it turns out to not work the way he wants, will he have a tantrum and say "but YOU told me to do it!", thus avoiding the pitfalls that come with owning responsibility.