Sleep
When Night Wakings Are Considered Normal
Parents are frequently told that infants "should" be sleeping through the night by six months, or three months, or even earlier. These expectations ar...
2 min read
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Showing articles tagged with: #expectations
13 articles found
Play
Age-Appropriate Games: Why Not to Rush Development
The market for "advanced" toddler products is enormous, and most of it sells one promise: your child can be ahead. They can read at three, do basic ar...
5 min read
Parenting
Why Traditional Time Management Doesn't Work With Kids
You bought the planner. You read the book. You did the morning routine. Two days in, the toddler had a cold, your nap window collapsed, and you ate th...
7 min read
Parenting
When to Reevaluate the Expectations You Set for Yourself
The expectations you carry for yourself as a parent did not arrive by accident. They were assembled — from your own childhood, from a decade of curate...
6 min read
Parenting
Why Perfect Parenting Doesn't Exist
The idea that perfect parenting is a thing you can fail at quietly does more harm than almost any actual parenting mistake. It produces guilt for ordi...
4 min read
Parenting
The Pressure to Be a Perfect Parent
Always patient. Always present. Always knowing what to do. Always with a snack in the bag. The list of things a "good" parent is supposed to be never...
4 min read
Parenting
How to Discuss Expectations and Workload
Many couples never explicitly discuss expectations about workload. You assume your partner will handle certain tasks, they assume you will, and resent...
4 min read
Parenting
Communicating Expectations Clearly to Young Children
A 3-year-old hears about 8 to 12 words per sentence before their working memory starts shedding the older ones. So "be good at the store" doesn't just...
8 min read
Parenting
How to Avoid Conditional Love Without Losing Expectations
Conditional love almost never sounds like "I'll love you if you behave." It sounds like silent treatment after a tantrum, a colder voice when grades d...
7 min read
Parenting
Why Balance Is Not About Equal Time Distribution
The phrase "work-life balance" set parents up to feel like they were failing at math. Eight hours work, eight hours family, eight hours sleep — that a...
6 min read
Emotions
How Expectations of Motherhood Shape a Woman's Emotional State
The version of motherhood you absorbed before becoming a mother — from movies, your own mother, social media, friends who only posted highlights — alm...
7 min read
Emotions
How Adult Expectations Influence Child Behavior
The expectations you carry about your child's behaviour are doing more work than they appear to. When a parent expects a 14-month-old to share willing...
5 min read
Daycare
Why There Is No Universally 'Perfect' Daycare
The daycare your friend raves about may be wrong for your kid. That sentence catches most parents off guard, because the search starts the same way ev...
8 min read