Dear Prudence,
My husband and I are on our second marriages and working on blending our family. We have two kids (13/15) from my previous marriage that he has stepped up to be their dad. One thing that we’re not in agreement on is our sleeping schedules. We moved into our house together after marriage and have been navigating this for about six months. He’s a night owl and I am an early riser. We both work from home so we have plenty of time to talk throughout the day, but he’ll take a nap in the afternoon and afterschool tasks, dinner, practices, and pick ups will be my responsibility from 3p.m. to 10 p.m. He works overnight on Friday and Saturday for additional money so the weeknights are our time to fall asleep together. He’ll wake up from an afternoon nap and then chill downstairs or barely engage with us upstairs and then wants to have an update on how things with me and kids are going when I come to bed. He says it’s equal me having time to myself from 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. while the house is quiet in the morning to meditate. I told him this is not the same and he says he needs his time like I have my time and is not interested in changing because this is important to him. I didn’t see this coming, and I’m tired of asking my husband to fall asleep with me. Are my expectations unreasonable, are these things the same?
—Losing the Fight to Fight