My Husband Refuses to Help with Chores and Look after Our 4 Kids, So One Night I Taught Him a Lesson

A woman took to Reddit to find out if she had acted out of turn when she left her husband and four children home alone for the weekend without prior notice. Netizens weighed in.

A 24-year-old woman trying to keep up with the energy and demands of two sets of twins. She had five-year-old boys and three-year-old girls and she shared a story in which she thought she may have overreacted. She shared that she was at home all day looking after her children and meeting their demands, all while juggling the responsibilities of a work-from-home job.

The woman's 27-year-old husband complained that she did not keep the house clean enough and that she sometimes cooked frozen dinners instead of making everything from scratch. He thought that since she was home all day and deemed her job "easier" than his physical labor job, she should do more around the house.

The husband's rare respites from work were spent sleeping or socializing, leaving the woman to single-handedly take care of the house, do the laundry and the dishes, and tend to the endless needs of their children. Her attempts to seek balance and step away and recharge in the company of friends, were met with resistance. This culminated in a heated exchange between the couple. In the end, her husband still wanted her to look after the kids.

In a moment of desperation and defiance, she decided to leave a note on top of her husband's phone after he had gone to sleep. She told him she was going out for the night with friends. When he saw the note, the man phoned his wife and yelled at her for her behavior. Her friends overheard the exchange and forced her to put the phone down and mute it.

Her intended short respite spiraled into a weekend-long event with friends. Yet, upon her return, she was greeted by a home in disarray. There was garbage strewn all around, piles of clothes throughout the house, and the woman described a terrible stench emanating from her home.

Her husband had already packed a suitcase and barely spoke to her before he left the house again and texted the woman to say he was going to be staying at his mother's house. With him leaving, the woman felt bad because she realized that her husband was not equipped to care for the children on his own, and said she didn't want to ruin the relationship.

Many people commented on the woman's post, telling her that there was nothing wrong with what she had done, besides the fact that she should have ensured there was someone there to care for her children because her husband was incapable of doing so.

One person told the woman that she could ruin her relationship because her husband did not care for her or their children. Some people told the woman that her husband was treating her like a slave.

One woman shared that she had been with a man for many years who had groomed her and behaved exactly as the woman's husband had. The commenter warned that men like this did not change and that she should get out of the relationship as soon as she was able. The person said that even if the woman was okay with her husband treating her badly, she should not be okay with him inevitably treating her children like that.

Many people gave the woman advice on what she should do and even shared legal steps she could take to ensure her and her children's futures if she decided to leave her husband. Some even gave her advice on what to do if her husband resisted legal proceedings.

Some Reader Comments

Do you think the woman was right to leave her husband at home alone with the four children? What would you do in her situation?

While this woman's husband didn't spend time with her or their children at home, another man excluded his wife only when he wanted to spend time with his family. Find the full story here.