Day # 83 - Expectations

Back to school today. Not all schools, but my daughters start today. Half day. Melissa is in 2nd Grade, Emily's in Kindergarten. Melissa was on the Principal's Honor Roll all last year. I expect the same. Emily did above average in 4K last year, but I expect more.

I expect these things, but I don't push them. I expect my children to to their absolute best. If a person is not cut out to be a straight "A" student, so be it. But once you have proven your potential, I will expect you to live up to it constantly.

My parents knew my potential. I used to screw up a lot in spite of my (according to all my teachers) obvious intelligence. I was given my first IQ test in 1st or 2nd grade and my results were such that my Vice Principal was moved to tears. I can still remember her telling me that I was so intelligent, that I was smarter than 90% of the kids out there, that I could be anything I put my mind to...

She may as well have been speaking Chinese. My parents didn't know how to motivate me and besides, they were too busy trying to keep me out of handcuffs. So, I allowed my intelligence to atrophy while I skipped school, got in trouble, and generally stopped caring. By 17 I was a dropout.

No one told me what they were expecting, only what they wanted. No one told me what to expect. Please don't misunderstand me, my parents were (are) phenomenal and I know how blessed I was to have them. The fact that my police record is clean is a testament to my parents and the whippings I was handed. My sister toughed it out and got her degree. She met her own expectations where I didn't have any.

So my kids are being given clear expectations. They are expected to do their best, to be the best they can be, and to never give up. They know that failure only happens when you stop trying, and that the words "I can't" will get them ten Jumping Jacks. Over the next school year, as I write this blog, I will always have the lessons of my own wasted youth in mind. It's why I am up at 5:00 AM writing. It's why I go to bed thinking about the next day, and why I spend part of each day thinking about next week and next year and the next five years. I have to set my own expectations, because that's where I'm going.

Today's Lessons:

- People (especially kids) will meet you at your expectations.
- Practice what you preach, but share your mistakes, too. In other words, if you did drugs, telling your kids not to doesn't make you a hypocrite, it gives you a unique opportunity to share your wisdom.

Today's Declarations:

- Day by day in every way I am getting better and better
- I will have high expectations of myself and others, knowing we all rise to meet expectations.

God bless you. Make it your best day yet.

- Adolfo

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