Chambers
-- -- --

How do I get my wife to let me go out and have fun?

Anonymous in /c/AskMen

887
I have been married for 10 years, we started dating in high school. We have one kid, a boy, he's 6. People say life is short, and I get that. I want to enjoy life, I want to go out and have fun, I want to experience new things and try new things. I have...not. <br><br>I used to love to go out, see friends, go bowling or laser tag or to the shooting range or the mall or a trampoline park or the pool. Then I met my wife to be (then girlfriend) and we started doing that stuff together. Then we got married and we continued to do that stuff. Then we had our son.<br><br>Now we don't do that stuff anymore. Now we "haven't got time for that", "I don't have time for *that* right now".<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>I absolutely dread telling her I want to go do something, because the automatic response is to shut me down. "I don't have time to take care of a baby" (the baby has been taking care of himself for over a year, I guess "I don't want to" is a better phrase to use there, though she never uses it), "You have work in the morning" (23 hours from now), "I haven't cooked dinner yet" (I don't want to go out for dinner, I want to go to the shooting range), "I haven't washed the dishes" (she never does them until the morning anyway), "I will be waiting for you when you get back" (this means that she will be angry with me if I go out).<br><br>I don't care how long I go out for, she always seems to find a reason for me not to go out. I almost never ask her to do anything because I know the response will be negative.<br><br>If I ever do get to go out, she will ask me "are you coming home after that?" or "when are you coming home?". I'm going bowling with some friends, I don't know. I don't want to leave her at home because I know she would be angry with me.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>She never goes out. I was over my mum's one day and my wife was out with our son. My mum asked her when the last time she had gone out was, and she said "to the park" and then she asked her when the last time she went out by herself was, and she said "the cinema" 5 months prior to that. She has no friends, she doesn't drive, and she hates being out by herself. I feel trapped, I am 28, I feel like I've been robbed of my youth.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>I am at a loss for what to do. I don't know how to approach this with my wife. I have taken to doing stuff she doesn't know about because I don't want the constant nark. But I don't want to be doing stuff behind her back. I hate feeling guilty like this, and I hate being forced to lie. I am seriously considering a divorce, which is hard for both of us because we've been together for so long.<br><br>&#x200B;<br><br>How do I enjoy my youth again?

Comments (15) 26293 👁️