elizabethk
22nd July 2003, 02:28 PM
My husband suffered a heart attack 3 years ago and hasn't worked since. Over the last three years his attitude to life has changed dramatically and he's become very difficult to live with. He has become very short tempered to the extent that our children (aged 13 and 9) cannot play in the house or garden because he complains that they're too noisy. If their friends visit, he shouts abuse at them for the most minor thing. He has become rude to friends and neighbours and doesn't recognise the need for being polite to anyone. We recently went on holiday and it was a disaster because of my husband's intolerant behaviour.
His attitude to our children is the most upsetting. He constantly criticises them and puts them down. If they bicker amongst themselves (quite normal in my view!), he screams abuse at them and grounds them for weeks on end. He over-reacts to everything they do and say. Yesterday, for example, our daughter came in crying because she'd been hurt in a game. He screamed at our eldest even though it was not his fault and when he tried to explain, my husband simply stood there shouting that he didn't want to hear anything because it would be all lies!
Perhaps not surprisingly, we no longer have any friends, never go out and the children spend as little time with us as possible. I dread evenings and weekends and school holidays. Despite everything, I don't want to deprive the children of a father but I'm at the end of my tether. In the past I've tried to suggest he goes away by himself for a few days but he now says that he won't leave. Surely I haven't got to spend the rest of my life walking on eggshells trying to avoid setting him off, and apologising to people for his behaviour?
His attitude to our children is the most upsetting. He constantly criticises them and puts them down. If they bicker amongst themselves (quite normal in my view!), he screams abuse at them and grounds them for weeks on end. He over-reacts to everything they do and say. Yesterday, for example, our daughter came in crying because she'd been hurt in a game. He screamed at our eldest even though it was not his fault and when he tried to explain, my husband simply stood there shouting that he didn't want to hear anything because it would be all lies!
Perhaps not surprisingly, we no longer have any friends, never go out and the children spend as little time with us as possible. I dread evenings and weekends and school holidays. Despite everything, I don't want to deprive the children of a father but I'm at the end of my tether. In the past I've tried to suggest he goes away by himself for a few days but he now says that he won't leave. Surely I haven't got to spend the rest of my life walking on eggshells trying to avoid setting him off, and apologising to people for his behaviour?