Anyone else keep realising that they constantly underestimate their children?

[schneebly]

I feel a bit bad that I never seem to think DS is capable of certain things and he keeps proving me wrong all the time! Prime example...on Friday I decided I was sick of giving DS1 a dummy at night (he is nearly 3 and very attached to it at nedtime) so I collected them all and told him that the dummy fairy had taken them and will exchange them for new toys on his birthday. and he whined for about 10 minutes and went to sleep and the same last night. Tonight he didn't even mention it! He is also dry at night after being dry in the day for only 2 weeks (to my amazement). Is it normal to underestimate your kids?

nedtime = bedtime not time for shellsuits and tonic wine!

Actually the more I think about this I think it might be because my own mum was pretty pushy and had very high expectations of me.

Having a child has been a huge learning curve for me professionally. I'm a SALT and I hadn't realised how far beyond the "norm" children can be. My daughetr is 12 months and understands way more than I ever expected.

Hiya I totally underestimate my son all the time. He is 3 yrs old and remembers absolutely everything you tell him. He comes out from nursery sometimes and just astounds me with his comments.

I'm guilty of underestimating dd2 at times. dd1 is very academic, early reader blah blah, whereas dd2 is average at reading and a poor speller, so she seems to lag a long way behind dd1. But she can recognise almost any snake you care to name, tell you about their habitat, how dangerous they are, etc - same with whales, fish, crocodiles, bears .... any animal she is interested in!

A lot of it comes down to our expectations (or our mothers' )