Honor Roll Mom :: Keep Your Expectations Reasonable
My oldest child is smart. Like mind-blowingly smart. At 14, I don’t remember a single time he ever had to study for a test. He’s able to remember vast amounts of knowledge and the adults in his life regularly look to him for guidance whenever they have a question about history or geography. He’s been on the honor roll ever since he was old enough to be on it and I’ve been the proud mom, sitting in the front row cheering him on every step of the way.
With a child like this, you get used to seeing the A’s and as much as you don’t want to be “that parent,” any time your child doesn’t quite meet their usual standards, you can’t help but feel a little disappointed. It’s okay to admit it. The first step to realization is acceptance. We have to come to terms that it is a fault to have such high expectations for our children. Does that mean we lower our expectations to zero? Of course not! Our job as parents is to raise successful, happy adults that are ready to spread their wings when it comes time to go into the real world but our kids don’t need to be perfect 24/7. They don’t need to excel at everything they do. Can you imagine the pressure?
What our kids need is grace.
Our kids need a soft place to land whenever times get hard. A safe space where they can vent their frustrations out about school, societal pressures, and just life in general. When our kids fail, we need to let them. Then when they’ve gotten their frustrations out, we need to be the hand that helps them back up.
A bad grade is not the end of the world but how you handle that bad grade means the world to your child.
So if you’re the mom to an academically talented child, I challenge you to relax. I know it’s hard. I know you love to see those good grades and you love to hear those compliments from teachers but remember, they’re only kids. They have a lifetime to get it right and to take on the world, not everything needs to be accomplished so quickly. Some times it’s better to take things in stride and go with the flow.
