Expectations

The door bell rang and Jenny hurried to open it. There stood her son Kevin with disappointment, worry, a little fear perhaps written large all over his tender young face. ‘Hi son’ she greeted as usual. ’Hi Mom’ came the dispirited response, as he came inside the house. ‘Mom…’, she stopped him in mid-sentence. ‘Son, first you have the juice, then let’s talk’, that was their routine. She knew he was upset, his board results were out that morning. She was sure that he had definitely done well, but was not quite sure what bothered him. They shared a very close rapport and she was the first one to know if anything went amiss. She waited until Kevin finished his juice. ‘Now tell me darling what’s wrong’. ‘Mom..’ his voice quavered. ‘I am sorry Mom I did not make it to the top ten’. She could see his eyes starting to fill. ‘I so much wanted to be a topper, I studied so hard mom..’ she could sense his frustration. ‘I only secured 89% overall.. I failed you and Dad mom.. I am really sorry mom..’ he went on and on. Gosh, she thought what have we done? Where have we gone wrong? Did we put inordinate pressure on him unknowingly? Hush..hush.. She hugged him, tried to soothe him and in a while she could feel the tension leaving him a little.

"Kevin, at least this time we want you to do your best in the finals.. If you want to become a Doctor... you'd better get good marks in science otherwise it will be quite difficult to get a seat in a good college..” Yes, many times both Jenny and Danny said something similar to Kevin when he failed to come up to their expectations, but she did not realize how seriously it affected their young son.

Kevin was a brilliant and sensitive boy unique with his own special abilities. He did things independently, took no tuitions unlike most his of classmates, but definitely playful at times. Danny and Jenny wanted Kevin to do well for his own sake; after all he is the one who will benefit from the success. Surely, it was not that their prestige and status was linked to Kevin’s success. Though they did have realistic expectations from Kevin she was sure they did not over-expect from him. They took it as their responsibility, indeed their duty to make Kevin feel comfortable about what he is, confident about what he can do and positive about what he has achieved.

“We are very proud of you son.. you have certainly done very well. Though we told you to do well in the finals, you know very well that we did not expect you to be a topper.” Jenny assured Kevin. ‘There is no need for you to feel so upset’. ‘What about Dad? What will he say?’ He was worried about his father’s reaction, for Danny could be harsh at times. “I’ll handle your Dad, don’t you worry son.. have your lunch and take a nap, everything is going to be fine. Ok.?’ And as she turned to go into the bedroom for that much needed talk with her husband before he arrived home, she was held into a tight embrace of Kevin and she heard his relieved whisper “Thank you Mom..I love you Mom’ 'I love you too son', she responded.. her son was no less a topper she thought.. It convinced her that indeed everything was going to be just fine.