Why I hate 'date night'

Uh-oh. Here’s another sticky dilemma for our ivillage parents’ brains trust…

I really don’t enjoy going on date nights with my husband of 10 years, for several reasons:

1. I don’t like how he eats

2. We always end up at his favourite restaurants, not mine

3. He always tells the same stories

4. He eats off my plate without permission

5. He forces me to have dessert

6. He expects sex afterwards

Gosh, that sounds terrible. I love him, I really do, but I prefer to just curl up at home to watch a movie, with no expectations. I get to eat all my dinner myself and when he starts telling those stories again I pretend to hear one of our children calling out for me.

He took me out to dinner last night and I didn’t have a good time. Firstly, he kept asking me where I’d like to go and then when I told him he suggested other places.

Normally he steers me towards a cafe that serves all-day breakfast which infuriates me. Or Italian, which is where we were last night.

Instead of ordering a proper meal he ordered two starters, none of which I was asked to share. Then, when my garlic prawns arrived, he kept dipping his bits of food in the sauce. I seriously almost stabbed him in the hand with a fork. I kept staring across the table and wishing he was my sister.

I was keen to wrap it up after that but from the hand stroking and face gazing he was doing I knew going home would just lead to sex (which I really wasn’t in the mood for) so I suggested we take a walk. Apparently he needed ice cream for this and I had to have one too.

We got home and the house was a mess so I started cleaning it and when he asked when I was coming to bed I said as soon as the house was tidy. After I heard his snoring I curled up on the lounge and watched a movie.

Are date nights really important? Should our reader learn to love dinner with her husband, or is it okay to suggest staying home instead?