Tom and I went to the school to pick the girls up this afternoon. As we walked along, I told him I was thinking of putting a wooden floor in the living room. He asked who would be laying it, to which I told him that I would.

He scoffed and said,  ‘YOU?!‘ and then laughed and said, “That’s like me climbing into a plane and thinking I can fly it. It would crash. You’re too stupid to be able to lay a floor.”

When I tried to argue it, he started shouting at me so loudly that other parents turned around to look. I felt so embarrassed, but the biggest problem was that I believed him.

Instead of doing what I want to do and what, deep down, I know I’m capable of doing, I decided I wouldn’t even try, because I just don’t want any more of his ridiculing and judgments – they’re killing me.