My parents claimed they had no expectations. Anything we did was fine with them.
That was such a lie. They probably don’t even know it. My wife is fond of telling the story about the time when my father was talking about his kids. He said he was proud of my sister. He said he was proud of my brother. My wife was waiting for him to talk about me, but no. Nothing.
He’s never said I’ve met his expectations or that he was proud of me. I worked my ass off as a child, but he never had one word of praise.
At this point, it doesn’t matter any more. I’m sure they were doing the best they knew how. The idea that I’m no good and worthless has been burned in deep.
However, those are just ideas in my head. Any expectation I think anyone else has of me is just an idea. I don’t have to pay much attention to them. It’s my life to live as I see fit.