Mum goes out for dinner by herself after husband and kids didn't do the washing up

A mum has reached out for others opinions after taking herself out for dinner when she realised her husband and children hadn't done the washing up. She said that her decision to eat without the family had left them furious at her, but she doesn't think she did anything wrong.

Posting on AITA on Reddit, a sub-reddit where people go to ask the internet if they are in the right or wrong on certain situations. Family dramas are a common conversation starter when people come to air their woes.

One mum-of-four reached out for support after it all kicked off over a family argument over chores being done, or in this case - not being done. She explained that she had her husband both work full time and that collectively they work between 50 - 60 hour weeks. Explaining that they had four children, two 13-year-old twins, one 12-year-old and one eight month old.

READ MORE: Josie Gibson makes 'Incredible' donation after aid worker killed in Israeli airstrike

Detailing the issue, she wrote: "I implicated a chore system from the time my kids were little. But ever since I had the baby and since the kids are older, ALL of them have slacked off tremendously (including husband).

"I pick our baby up from day-care around 5pm and when I get home, I usually find my husband on the couch on his phone and the kids in their rooms playing video games/watching make up tutorials. The house is generally a mess and honestly, the only issue I have is the dishes.

"I couldn't give f*** all about anything else (because the rest of the house generally isn't dirty-dirty, just cluttered). But I have expressed several times that I am tired of having to wash all the dishes in order to cook and have lashed out in some not so nice ways (shut off the Internet entirely and took the chord with me to work so no one could use the Wi-Fi/watch tv, cancelled family trips, graduation, got in to big arguments with my husband).

"Things will change for a week to a month and then switch right back to them refusing to help. I'm honestly so tired of it that I don't even have the energy to speak up anymore."

Join the Daily Record's WhatsApp community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.

It all came to a head for the family of six when she asked her family to have the chores done so that when she got home she could crack on with dinner.

"As I said, my husband has weekends off so he and the kids were home yesterday while I worked. Before I took off for the day I told them "you guys chores had better be completed by the time I get home"," she wrote. "They said "yes ma'am" and I leave. I text husband around 4:30pm asking what they all wanted for dinner because I had to stop off at the grocery store.

"I pick up what he said they all wanted and walk in to my home, to find that not a single dish had been washed and there was at least 10 more dishes in the sink from when I left that morning. I also noted that only a load of laundry had been washed and was still sitting in the washer and was never switched to the dryer.

"Husband was on his a** on the couch watching YouTube. Kids off playing video games. Baby in her walker.

"So, I put the groceries on the table, packed a bag for the baby and told my husband "have at it, I'm going to Applebee's" and left. Maybe 20 minutes later he calls and says "I washed the dishes, sorry. I was super tired today."

"I told him that's zero excuse at all. There's three older kids who have chores and he couldn't even step up and tell his kids to complete anything either. It's pure laziness at this point.

"He said "I know, I'm sorry, I'm trying to work on it. Can you just come home, I don't know how to make this dish" (it's a pretty difficult dish but google is free).

"I told him no, I'm sitting at Applebee's and will be enjoying my steak and shrimp with the baby in peace and that him and the older kids can fend for themselves because apology or not, I'm not letting him off the hook here. He had me on speaker phone, so him and all the kids laid right in to me, asking me to please grab them something from Applebee's (it's all of our favourite restaurant).

"I said absolutely not and hung up the phone. When I returned home the groceries had been put away and apparently they had grilled cheese and cereal for dinner.

"My husband and kids are still p***** at me. I told them this is how it will be every single time they don't do chores from now on. AITA?"

One person replied to the post pointing out that the act of putting the mum on speaker phone was 'disrespectful'. They wrote: "NTA. I didn't see any mention of this in the comments, so here's my take. Most of the bases have been covered as far as his utter incompetence in being an equal partner and parent.

"HOWEVER, he put the call on speaker and allowed the older children to lay into you??? Excuse me? He's showing your children that it is totally fine to disrespect you and that they should have no consequences for their actions or lack thereof. In what world is that okay???"

Would you have responded differently? Let us know in the comments below