My tip for surviving parenthood: The Joy of Low Expectations!

This parenting thing can be hard. We live in a world of immediate gratification and entitlement. Not only that, but I have to raise my own kids. My secret to surviving parenthood: low expectations.

Here are a few examples on surviving parenthood with low expectations:

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1) On her 5th birthday my daughter came up to our room. We excitedly told her Happy Birthday (okay excitedly might be an over statement since we were groggy…) and asked if she wanted to open her present. She in a shocked voiced asked “You got me a present?!” Let me assure you that she has received presents every year from us, but she still has such low expectations of us, that she doesn’t c0unt on it.

2) My daughter’s really enjoy having water to drink. I don’t know – something about not being dehydrated appeals to them. One day after I polished off a couple bottles of diet pepsi (I obviously need to learn from my children) I decided they might enjoy having their own bottles of water in the fridge. I took the labels off the bottles, washed them (by hand), and then wrote names on the caps. I filled them with water and placed them in the fridge. When I told them about this, you would have thought that I walked on water instead of just bottled it. My youngest at age 3 bragged to her Grandma about the water bottles. I was thanked profusely, etc. Why did they get so excited? Low Expectations.

3) The middle of Summer I took the girls swimming on a Friday and then the following day it was hot again. I told them we were going to be swimming again. Their jaws hit the ground and they said, but we went yesterday. I said I know, but it’s hot again. I think we should go again. They were astounded that they could do that twice in a row. Why were they surprised? Again, they have very low expectations.

4) One night before bed, my oldest asked “Do our fire alarms have batteries?” My husband and  I answered in unison “Yes.” She then thanked us kindly and went to bed. Expectations so low she thinks she’s being raised by two of the three stooges.

I hope you are able to harness this power and make it work for you in your parenting venture.