HUSBAND TREATS ME LIKE DIRT

Dear Coleen

My husband treats me appallingly – as a servant, housewife and mother all rolled into one. He gets home from work at 4pm and wants me to make him food immediately, put on his video game, take off his boots and so on.

I try to object and he just complains and says, “Please, please, please!” until I do it. Sometimes he guilt trips me into doing it.

How can I stop this? I can’t really leave him for weeks or even days to make my point, as we’ve just got a new puppy and I don’t know where I could go where she’d be welcome, too. I’m miserable – what do you suggest?

Coleen says

Um, just say no and then don’t do it. It’s really not that difficult. I don’t understand why you’re scared of doing that – or are you?

He needs to realise that you’re not his mother and if she brought him up to expect to be treated like that, then she should be ashamed of herself.

People don’t stay together because of puppies, but if you don’t want to move out, then say no to him acting like a child and have a proper discussion about how you’re living and the way you should be treating each other.

Your marriage should be a partnership – you should be working as a team. And don’t use the puppy as an excuse not to do anything about it.