Are you living with a man child?

Are you living with a man child? What is a man child? 

Living with a man-child can be exhausting, confusing, and lonely. At first, he might seem carefree and fun—but over time, immaturity shows up in the small daily things: the mess he leaves behind, the responsibilities he avoids, the way he dodges tough conversations.

A man-child isn’t just someone who likes to joke around. He’s an adult who refuses to step into adulthood. Instead of sharing the load, he pushes the work of life—emotional, financial, and practical—onto you. If you find yourself picking up after him, making excuses for him, or feeling like the parent in your relationship… you may already be living with a man-child.

7 Man-Child Behaviours

1. He has extremely poor awareness: He believes he has no emotional baggage or family dysfunction.
2. He thinks recreational drugs, particularly pot, are just fine to use. He doesn’t give weight to the health effects, lazy mentality, or negative influence that his poor choices will have on your young children.
3. He is not employed in a “career.”He may go from job to job or try to avoid working at all.
4. His main hobbies involve electronics Playing video games for hours and not balancing it up with exercise.
5. He does not share the load at home. He does not do ANY cooking, cleaning, or laundry. If you ask him to help, he acts like it is a huge deal.
6. He can’t express himself maturely. There is no “manning up” when necessary. No back-and-forth discussions that lead to problem-solving. He complains, whines and thinks everything is unfair. He is petty and keeps score. He may even throw all-out temper tantrums. You will always be the one to bring up important issues for discussion. He is great at pretending that nothing is wrong.
7. All of his friends behave similarly. You may have met some in the past that seemed mature and responsible, but they no longer come around anymore. When you go out with other couples, you feel embarrassed about their behaviour or lack of accomplishments.

6 Mature Ways to Deal with your ‘Man-Child’

1. Be Independent. When you do your own thing, you provide an excellent model for how he can get his own stuff done. Staying in your adult and role modelling
2. Do not Be His Mom and begin nagging and speaking to him like you’re his parent. You will be enabling him to stay in the man child if you behave this way.
3. Stop Making Excuses for him. This is not your burden or your opportunity to rescue him. Clear assertive communication is needed.
4. Modify His Behaviour In Small Steps. … Giving your partner space and room to make mistakes. Encouraging and making him aware is more helpful than attacking and belittling and it ends up in a shouting match.
5. Be Real About Why You’re with This Guy. Be honest with yourself and if you’re in the early stages of this relationship take your time before you fully commit to it.

Let go of the need to control. It’s totally up to your partner to make the decision to grow up and your decision to let go and to stop perhaps trying to control.

Tune into my Empowered Marriage Podcast to learn more. This fortnight’s podcast is available now and discusses this topic in more depth. Are you living with a man-child? – Podcast Episode 46 – Are you living with a man-child?

Here is a helpful resource Marriage Tune Up

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