Why Expectations Suck

“My daughter,” my mother brags to her friends, “is amazing. She gets As on her report cards and she doesn’t act out, either!”

I fail a math test and get caught playing a game on my computer in class.

I’m lying in my bed and I think, It would be easier if there were no expectations.

When my parents ask me if I’ve done something I haven’t, and I feel twice the guilt I should — half from my parents, and have from myself.

I have my own expectations. Other peoples’ expectations simply heap onto my own and I get crushed by the force.

When Joanne Rowling wrote Harry Potter, she made Harry an orphan so he wouldn’t have to suffer from external pressure by his parents.

It’s something to think about.

If your mother tells you you’re smart and she loves you so much, and then you fail a test, a tiny part of you might wonder if she still loves you just as much. If you failed all of your classes, what would your mother think?

I have my own expectations for myself. My parents don’t motivate me on my grades; I do that myself. But it still stresses me out when I get a bad grade, because even though I can deal with it on my own, I become upset about the prospective reaction from my parents.

I know they’ll be upset. They don’t punish me, but we have mutual respect for each other and they don’t need to punish me to make me feel guilty.