12 Common Marriage Expectations

The handsome husband and I were not married very long before I began to realize that mowing the lawn was not a high priority on his to-do list. Everyday I would pull up in front of our little rental house and groan because (to me) it looked like an abandoned shack with weeds and grass ankle-deep. Our neighbors would give us the evil eye as we would come and go in the mornings (or so I thought). So occasionally I would toss out a hint here and there, noting how tall the grass was growing. Surely he would get the hint and get out there to mow the lawn!

Nope.

After a while, I noticed that this lawn issue really began to bug me. “Why won’t he just mow the stupid lawn?” In fact, one time I was seven-months pregnant, and he arrived home to find me mowing the lawn (I know, NOT a great idea on my part). He rightly asked me to come inside the house and told me how embarrassing it was to him for me to be pregnant and mowing the lawn in front of the whole neighborhood.

Can you see the cycle of conflict we were caught up in? Why was it that I expected him to mow the lawn regularly? In fact, why did I expect him to mow the lawn at all? Did I ever share with him that this was my expectation of him as the man of the house? Was it even a realistic expectation?

You might guess that I grew up in a home where my dad loved to manicure our yard every weekend. So without thinking about it, I just assumed that my husband would do that as well. And we soon discovered that the lawn wasn’t the only unspoken expectation that either of us had.

The thing with expectations is that we usually don’t even realize we have them until they are not met. This is particularly true of newlyweds. Once you say “I do” and start living together on a daily basis, that’s when issues begin to surface. Yet, all too often we fail to even talk about them, which usually results in conflict.

"The thing with expectations is that we usually don’t even realize we have them until they are not met."

And it’s certainly not limited to newlyweds. In fact many couples discover and even develop new expectations throughout their years together. And while some new ones may develop over time, there are some common expectations that seem to surface regularly for all couples. See if you might identify with some of them listed below.

12 Common Marriage Expectations

1. Money:  Spender vs. Saver? Will we join our bank accounts? Who will manage our money? What will we spend our money on? When do we need to check with the other before spending? What are our savings goals?
2. Sex/Romance/Affection: How often will we be sexually intimate? What’s OK in the bedroom and what’s not? Non-sexual intimacy vs. sexual intimacy? Are PDA’s (public displays of affection) ok? Cuddling?
3. In-laws/Extended Family: How much time will we spend with them weekly, monthly, yearly? How involved will they be in our relationship? How will we divide holidays between yours and mine?
4. Kids: Discipline styles? Activities: Which ones and how much? How much time away will we take from our kids weekly, monthly, yearly? Which of us will stay home with the kids or will we put them in childcare? Who will provide childcare – a daycare or family? What kind of schooling?
5. Holidays/Celebration: How, where, when with whom will we celebrate? Are birthdays/anniversaries a big deal? Will we celebrate Valentines Day? If so, how?
6. Chores: Who does what? Do we fall into gender stereotypes? Are we ok with that? Will we hire someone to do them?
7. Organized vs. Disorganized: Tidy vs. messy? Structured vs. free spirit? Planner vs. spontaneous?
8. Entertainment/Vacations: Differing vacation/relaxation styles? For date nights, will we go out or stay home? Vacay or staycay? Hotel vs. camping? Mountains vs. tropical beach? Movie vs. museum vs. ballgame? How will we spend our down time: Productive or mindless?
9. Communication: Talker vs. quiet? Differing styles: internal processor vs. external processor? Are we emotionally available to each other (e.g., available, responsive, engaged)?
10. Conflict Styles: Avoider vs. pursuer? Passive aggressive vs. direct?
11. Spiritual: What is a “spiritual leader”? Who will be the spiritual leader? Where will we go to church? How much will we be involved/volunteer? Will we pray together? Quiet times together? If so, when? How often?
12. Work/Career: We will ever work overtime? Will we travel for work? If so, how much is ok? Are we willing to relocate if necessary? Does work-related stress spill into home-life? Will we both have a full-time career?

Problems develop because we assume the other person shares our expectations. But when something doesn’t go the way we think it should, we feel frustrated, disappointed, even angry.

“Well of course we’ll spend the holidays with my family first and then yours. It just wouldn’t be Christmas for me if we didn’t!”

“Did she leave her clothes on the bedroom floor again? The clothes hamper is right there.”

“Why can’t we leave the kids with your sister and get a weekend away together?”

It is also important to identify where your expectations come from. Our family-of-origin is primarily responsible. We assume everyone does it that way because that’s how it was done in our family. Culture also exerts a strong influence on our expectations. To borrow a line from Iron Man, “That's how Dad did it, that's how America does it, and it's worked out pretty well so far.”

We are not saying that all expectations are necessarily bad. We all have them. The point is we need to be aware of them and talk about them.