Where Do Your Expectations Come From?

What expectation do you think this photo shows?

Besides being a really cute photo of the kids on the block... the ones I grew up with. In fact I am second from the left.

Have you been told to sit at the table or sit there so you don't make a mess? Don't get your clothes dirty?

That's an expectation we bring into our lives and to our kids. We expect them to do the same thing as we had to do as kids.

How does this affect you as an adult?

Take a moment to think about this exact scenario. As a child, did an adult tell you to not make a mess, to sit at the table, to not get food on your clothes...

As an example of this, let me tell you about a friend of mine, bless her soul. Every time the we got together for coffee or to eat at each other's homes or out somewhere, she would spill something on her chest. EVERY TIME!!!!

It was psychological. It had to do with what one of her parents possibly yelled at her when she was a kid. She spent our time together unconsciously thinking that I would yell at her and so she unknowingly set it up.

Of course I never yelled at her and she began to notice that something was going on. That there was a pattern. Then came the day we sat together and she had no spillage.