Expectations: First & Second Child

When we had our first child, we had expectations for them. They would be everything we are… and more! We read up on all the books, watched all the videos, spent all of our time getting ready for this child.

They will do everything perfectly the first time!

Wow - we were so disappointed when our first child did not meet that expectation.

It was not the child’s fault - it was ours. It was our first child!

After so much disappointment, we learned to relax our expectations and well, they improved their capabilities too.

At some point, they met and we’ve been having fun.

Second Child

One constrast I marvel at: with our second child, we did not have the same level of expectations as we did for our first child. We relaxed on our expectations, just let things slide - because we knew the second child would turn out well.

With lower or no expectations, our second child just impressed us all the time.

I also believe our first child taught us what to expect - so the second child did not have to break these expectations.

Relief & Joy

I am glad we have two children - both teach us so much about ourselves and the world. Even though they have the same input material, they are radically different from each other, and our parenting knowledge advannce with each of them.