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DH Obsessed With Naming Crap After His Kids. Anyone Else Have This Issue?

TwoOfUs's picture

So...I wrote the below as a PM to a Steptalk friend and then decided to turn it into a blog to see if any of you have experienced a similar phenomenon.

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This weekend my DH and I went away for 2 nights to an AirBnB to talk about our fears and concerns as well as our hopes and dreams for the future. It was good. We talked about what we love to do and how we can make that happen for us, whether or not the business gamble pays off. We took stock of our assets and liabilities (both financially and personally/interpersonally...i.e. the skills and relationships we have). Overall, it felt very hopeful. 

At one point in all this, DH drew out a floor plan for his dream home on graph paper (He has a background in theater/set building and has always been very visual this way...we've redone various rooms in our house multiple times since we've been married and he always sketches it all out. Me? I just start moving furniture and hope it works...) 

Anyway...he then drew some land around our little dream home with some gardens (I love to garden) and some simple, one-bedroom cottages. We both like to host people a lot and like to show hospitality...so I was into this. He draws three of these little cottages and says:

"We can name them after OSD, SS, and YSD and even let the kids pick out the decor! These can be their little retreats that they can book and use if they're ever going through a rough time or just need a place to stay for a couple months...and we can let other people stay there or rent them out at other times..." 

At this point, I drew a fourth cabin and said: "Cool. And this will be the cabin for my family if they want to come stay for a while..." 

But overall, I was cool with it. I was a little tipsy, and it felt kind of fine and lovely. For a brief 2-day period, I kind of got this hazy, lovey feeling about retiring to this place and maybe even being a grandmother figure of sorts to skid children...I think I probably will be since my relationship with the skids has been mostly good. I told DH this...that I think being there since birth and not having the direct connection to BM will make it simpler for me to show affection to grandskids...and I do think that will end up being true. 

But...then. Back home, back to reality...and I'm kind of stewing and overthinking the whole thing. It's not that I would mind having three little cottages that we rent out or use for guests as we need to on our little dream retirement land...but WHY does DH feel the need to name them after his feckin' kids? Why? His parents have land and property and guest cabins on their land, and they haven't named them after my DH and his sister. Because it's THEIR land and THEIR property...and they aren't up their kids butts all the time. 

It's like DH has this obsession with naming crap after his kids. Characters on TV shows we watch? Pictures of three puppies on puzzles we do together? The three feral cats that I took in and started feeding and caring for? ("Oh. There's three of them? Well then...they simply MUST be OSD, SS, and YSD!!! Look! They're tumbling and wrestling with each other the way my little rugrats used to do!") 

Seriously...the cat thing really ticked me off and I steadfastly refused to call them by the skids names. I even pointed out to DH that it was gross to do so because they often get a little...um...sexual with each other...

I know it's so dumb to even worry about it...but it starts to feel like I can't have anything that he doesn't go and eff up by connecting it to his kids in some way. Nothing that's mine. TV show I like that has 3 characters that could somehow with a huge stretch be thought to vaguely resemble his idiot offspring? Well...it's OSD, SS, and YSD of course!! 

Even more disturbing to me is the reasoning behind naming the cabins after the skids...because what if they're in trouble and need rescuing?!?!?! They should just have a place to go at any time, no questions asked!!! It's like DH can't fathom that his kids will be fine, have their own adult lives, and not need rescuing from him. He has this weird vision of the skids as perpetual victims and himself as the only person who can help them. It makes me sick to my stomach if I think about it too much. It also makes me feel like they are the ones being pursued...and I'm the one enabling it. 

Of course...the skids will be fine and they won't come stay in "their" cabins for months at a time...if we even get to make good on this little dream. But why oh why can I not have something that's just mine and not for the kids? Why does our dream plan have to feature them so prominently? It seems particularly cruel when you consider that I desperately want(ed) kids of my own and DH refused to pursue that with me...

***

So...anyone else have a DH who gets "reminded" of the dumb skids by anything and everything in the world? If so, how does it make you feel? I hate it. And, keep in mind, my skids are now 21, 20, and 18...they aren't cute little toddlers anymore...so why does my DH still act as though they're helpless little victims? 

Comments

ProbablyAlreadyInsane's picture

So i don't know that I have a why... And thankfully my Dh doesn't name anything after the skids...

But I just can't fathom why he'd think it was a good idea... We're going to name everything after the skids! It's like some sort of unhealthy obsession... Like he cna't fully difrientiate himself completely as an individual without them. 

I mean if you're going to have cabins, why not just theme them like normal? This is the red cabin, this is the blue cabin, farmhouse, dracula, white, pink, giraffe, etc. There are so many other options that would make them WAY more versetile for guests and visitors. Plus what would he do if you had a guest staying in a cabin and spontaneously skid does fall on a hard time? Kick the guest out for the skid becuase it's "their" cabin?

One positive of the cabins though. They do fall on hard times and you have ZERO concern that they'll be living in your home with you. But I think it's giving them too much power to name something that is yours after them and decorate it how they want. I think how it is with most parents (mine included) once you move out you really don't even have a room anymore. I come and visit and it's in the GUEST room. Becuase that's what I am now. I haven't had a room there since I was 18. Even "my room" i stayed in my last semester of college (long story short I was graduating early and no one wanted to do a half contract for housing) was just an old room that I stacke dmy things in temporarily before leaving again.

TwoOfUs's picture

Yes - exactly. 

I think he feels like he got cheated out of time with them...and the empty nest feeling is pretty raw for him right now. He's been struggling with it. 

He is a very sensible person in most ways...so I'm hoping that this is a phase that he will outgrow in the next few years. We think we'll buy land and build somewhere in about 5 years...so I'll see how he feels about it then :) 

But yeah. My parents didn't do this with us...his parents never did it with him and his sister. We very much feel like guests when we're at his parents house or any of their other properties. There are strict rules, which they remind us about frequently. We've never been asked for input regarding decor or been told we can come and go as we please and stay as long as we need to...

Just not sure where this fantasy comes from...

mro's picture

when I started looking for a small duplex to use as a rental. All our kids are out now and I don't want any bouncing back!  They would pay rent though. Naming them after the kids and letting them decorate them? No. I don't want them to feel too welcome LOL.  And I have no intention of one for each kid!

 

 The only reason I'm considering it in the first place is that I am already in the rental business. Plus, one of mine has a disability and I would like to have something for her to fall back on but not have her live with us (behavior issues).

TwoOfUs's picture

I totally get that. 

We're looking at buying a rental property or AirBnB property late this year / early next year...and I'd have no problem letting anyone in my family or his use it for a while if they needed to. 

But man. I would never suggest we name it after anyone in my family. 

Kes's picture

Dear Lord, pass the sick bag. No, my DH would not want to name things after his daughters.  If he did, he'd get short shrift from me.  

TwoOfUs's picture

Right?!

I was in too good of a mood to care in the moment...but now it makes me feel kinda sick. 

Good thing DH is the type to say ideas out loud and totally forget them a few days later...

TrueNorth77's picture

Oh God. *barf in aforementioned sick bag ^^^*. No, there are times when I wish my SO were more sentimental, but then there are times when I want to high five him for NOT being that way. Especially when it comes to skids.

What's annoying is that your DH is turning your dream into a way to get skids to come stay, when you are finally just free of them! Naming cabins after them? FFS. Naming cats after them?? F that! Thankfully my SO wouldn't dream of any of this and would feel embarrassed suggesting it. I'm annoyed for you.

Side note, I too rescued 3 feral kittens off the streets of our town! We rehomed one of them after he decided litter boxes were not for him, but still kept the other 2. They are NOT named after skids..... 

TwoOfUs's picture

Lol.

Ours are decidedly feral so no rehoming. It’s a mom and her two now-grown kittens (there were three kittens but one didn’t make it).

I had them all fixed and given shots through a local trap, neuter, release program and now they basically lounge around on my back porch napping and waiting to be fed. I guess in that way they ARE  like skids...lol.

Anyway. I really like having them around. The mom and one kitten are both white (the kitten has a gray mark on her forehead and the mom has two gray marks) and the other kitten is mostly gray tabby with some white patches. So I call them White, White Stripe, and Little Gray. NOT OSD, SS, and YSD. 

Once when YSD was still coming over, White Stripes came in and she squealed...Oh! This one is YSD, right?!?! I just said...NOPE. 

Anyway. My husband is an artist and tends to get weepy and sentimental when we’ve been drinking and planning...

beebeel's picture

I don't know how you hid the serious side eye when he named cabins after them. Let him fantasize. Hopefully, the "kids" are successful at adulting and the land can only accommodate ONE guest cabin lol.

moving_on_again's picture

Ya, that's not cool. Not the names or the decorating. I think having a theme would be cute but a person?! That's just weird unless they were famous and iconic. 

I love the "farmhouse" theme mentioned above. I am thinking about doing our spare bedroom in similar decor. 

I LOVE these three colors together.https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR6HAQBFRgpMHmfFBfx...
https://cdn-fastly.hometalk.com/media/2014/07/02/657841/boring-to-blue-k...
https://cdn-fastly.hometalk.com/media/2014/07/02/657834/boring-to-blue-k...

TwoOfUs's picture

Ooh. I really like those colors together, too. 

My kitchen is actually that blue color with some brick and rusty orange accents (countertop is slate with flecks of orange-red, have the vintage flame Le Crueset enamelware in an open hutch, etc.) But I have a slate gray with it instead of that golden yellow color. Really like how bright and rich the combination is. 

AlwaysSmiling's picture

Your situation does seem particularly cruel. 

My SO has one child and he writes books. He likes to use her name as characters in the book, or mix it up & name other things with her anagram. 

It's not fun to witness- it is like an obsession. 

TwoOfUs's picture

Gross. 

Yeah...would probably get tired of that nonsense, too...

I write and don’t feel the need to name anything and everything after my family members...

AlwaysSmiling's picture

When I call him on it, he doesn't take away from the story- but he'll add more to it. More to include others. For example, I told him that one book was turning into nothing but a glorification of her. So to fix that, he added tidbits here and there to include the other characters. But it tainted my view, as I got to read the raw version. I will always see the original in my head. We argued- his stance is that one day, he hopes that she'll read his books and realize how special he thinks she is. 

I get where you are coming from though. Your husband should be more focussed on the two of you and the things that center on that- which only minutely includes the kids. Your cabin should be your retreat, something to add value to your life and your husband's life. Not something that is only there to save his kids if needed. When do you ever get to be 1st in his life? 

TwoOfUs's picture

Precisely. 

At what point can the world and all of our joint efforts and dreams STOP revolving around his children from a previous marriage?

For me...that stopped about a year into our marriage when I realized I was never going to care for them the way he wanted me to. And that I just don't care for them (in the sense of liking them / having common interests) as people. Truly, he loves the skids but doesn't seem to like them that much...I guess I'm just waiting for him to catch up with me...

elkclan's picture

However, my SO (a bio-scientist) did name a whole genus after his then wife. I was a bit drunk one time and told him I wanted a species named after me. He reminded me that he'd named a genus after ex. I told him I'd be happy with a species. I want my species!!! To be honest, and this is quite geeky, but I've always wanted a species named after me. 

moving_on_again's picture

That just reminded me that my ex named a paint color after me. Lol. It was pink. I don't wear pink. He's a moron. 

NotEasy525's picture

I've never heard of anyone doing this and thank God!! Lol. I would be pretty annoyed too!! Get creative, would ya?!? Not use the kids names!

TwoOfUs's picture

Well, it's all hypothetical at this point. But, yeah. I will not be cool with naming pieces of OUR joint property after HIS kids when the time comes. Hopefully he'll move on from the idea before then. 

I guess it makes me feel sad and disgusted because it's a window into where his head is...and it's so far removed from where mine is...

strugglingSM's picture

I think someone asked about this above, but how much time did your DH have with the kids after the divorce? 

My DH doesn't name anything after his kids, but anytime we go anywhere, he'll say how "next time, we'll take SSs here" or "when we take SSs here." He even ruined one trip (before we were married and for which I paid every penny) by spending the whole time saying how much more fun the whole thing would be if SSs were with us. We went on a cruise for our honeymoon (his choice) and he insisted upon booking a cruise for us to take SSs on the following year (they spend a good part of the cruise trying to convince you to book a second). We couldn't afford it, so I never made the payments and we didn't go, but it was almost like he had to do it, because he couldn't enjoy himself on our cruise if he didn't think he was bringing SSs on a future cruise. He and BM went on a cruise when SSs were about 5 and they did not book a cruise for the four of them the following year...I bet they didn't even talk about booking a cruise for all of them to go on. 

It's guilt pure and simple and maybe also frusration that as a NCP, no matter what you do, you largely get cut out of your kids lives. I honestly think that after divorce, the default assumption should be 50/50 and they should only consider other options if 50/50 is just not feasible. My DH is not a full parent to his kids anymore and BM wields all the power thanks to their parenting plan, which gives DH joint legal custody, but other than him reporting BM every time she makes a decision without him (which wouldn't really get him anywhere), there's nothing he can do when she cuts him out. Doesn't help that his family thinks BM's wonderful and that DH is the bad guy (even though BM was the one who wanted to get divorced since she met someone else and BM was behind 90% of the problems in their relationship since she shows strong signs of having borderline personality disorder). 

TwoOfUs's picture

Sounds very familiar except for his family preferring BM. They were upset about the divorce for the kids' sakes, but they greatly prefer me and never cared for her. 

Yes...DH and I have always lived close to skids and have spent extra time with them. BM has always been accommodating about that. But officially he was the NCP with joint legal custody and, like your BM, ours cut him out of a lot of major decisions, which I know really bothered him. 

I feel like we've always been there and that DH has been able to be a strong, present father to them...despite the divorce. But I'm sure being nearby and available doesn't feel the same as having the kids in your home 100% of the time. 

I agree default should be 50/50.