16 Nov Sound of Expectations
The CUTEST production. An all kid play … Sound of Music in Mill Valley. Adorable set, red cheeked kids, good voices. Sebastian a wee bit more excited about it than I realized he would be. Got super antsy waiting in line.
Finally, the singing began. He looked at me and laughed each time they sang, “When the dog bites…”
He started getting antsy. “Momma, when is the movie starting.”
I whispered in his ear, that this is a movie.. it is just live. You see, Sebastian doesn’t get to watch TV. He gets a movie each week and it is usually on the weekends. He anticipated this ‘movie’ all week.
I failed to set his expectations very well, As the children sang “Do Ra Mi…” he got louder and louder.
“MOMMA when is this PREVIEW going to be over?”
I raced him out of there. He wailed in the lobby. 7 adults shushed him. He wailed on the sidewalk. Several Marin-ites gave me a look of child abuse.
He wailed behind his seat belt. He wailed as we drove on the 101.
I asked him if he wanted to talk about it.
He stopped crying immediately. “No, Momma. I’m too mad. I want YOU to talk about it.”
As I explained to him the play, the act of signing, performance… I pulled the car over.
“Sebastian, I made a mistake and I am sorry. i think what happened is you thought it was a movie. Mommy should have explained it to you before we went in there. Next time you’ll know a little more and enjoy all the singing.”
He sniffled for a while. Fell asleep.
Still asleep.
I wonder how often in his life humans will give him that look.. that… “you are a bad kid look,” when actually it was an example of missed parenting.
It made me think about expectations. So often in the business world the relationships fall to the floor in tiny fragments as “busy” and “no time” result in unclear expectations.   My son, once again, has reminded me to slow down and have more conversations.   TO make sure those around me are clear on what to expect or what I expect.
Now … if I can just find another 2 hours in the day to make that happen…..
🙂
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