Don’t get me wrong. Having high expectations for your children is good. I just want to provide you with a warning. Expectations that are too high could be trouble.
Parents who have expectations that are too high tend to do things that are harmful to a child’s long term development. One of those things is killing their child’s motivation with overparenting. However, when you are in the midst of doing your best to provide the best for your child, it can be hard to recognize when you’ve gone too far.
Sometimes your spouse or another family member attempts to intervene, but often that’s not enough to drive a behavior change. A parent’s determination to help their child achieve expectations that are too high is often relentless.
Given this, here is the one critical sign that is 100% accurate in identifying a parent who’s expectations are too high… The parent is scheduling their child in so many activities (practice, private coaching, tutoring, tournaments, performances, camps, etc.) that the child has no time to get to know their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.
That’s it. If your child is so busy pursuing goals that they have no time to build meaningful relationships with their extended family, you have a problem.