I’m sick of being treated like a complete doormat by my wife
DEAR DEIDRE: I’M sick of being treated like a complete doormat by my wife.
Whether it’s cooking, cleaning, laundry, or general household chores, everything is always left to me, and I’m at the end of my tether.
I’m 35, my wife is 32, and we’ve been together for seven years. We have a beautiful five-year-old daughter together.
Since the day we moved in together, it’s safe to say I have always been picking up the slack around the house.
She had only lived at home with her parents before moving in with me, so I initially assumed things would improve as we learnt to live together.
Looking back, I sometimes wonder if I did too much at the beginning and gave her the green flag to sit back.
Every day I leave work dreading the mess I’ll come home to and ultimately have to deal with.
I wouldn’t complain too much if she was working full-time herself, but she insisted on going part-time when our daughter was born.
Whenever I tried to bring up the subject in the past, she’d always use the excuse she was busy looking after our little girl, but now she’s started school, she has nothing to fall back on.
I feel like a broken record, and my resentment is starting to ruin our relationship.
Some days I even consider leaving.
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DEIDRE SAYS: A marriage is supposed to be a partnership, so if one of you is doing a lot more than the other, resentment will ultimately grow.
You need to have a sit-down and have a serious talk with your wife before it all gets too much and you get to a boiling point.
Tell her how miserable you are and that things need to change. Mention that you’ve considered leaving her because of the stress so she takes you more seriously.
I’m sending you my support pack on Standing Up For Yourself to help you have this conversation.
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