OldQWERTYbastardChildren who grew up teaching themselves because nobody had time to teach them often become adults who are extraordinarily competent and quietly resentful
I’m married to someone who had to be the adult and take care of her family (siblings and mother) starting age 11.
My wife is unstoppable. But she expects adults to be adults, because she had to figure out how to be one by herself. And that’s where the resentment comes in.
Yeah that was me as a kid. 1-2 siblings, parents worked 8am-6pm or later, and mom travelled a lot for work. I did all my own stuff starting at ~6yo, cooking/cleaning/laundry by 8yo, caring for my baby siblings starting at 11yo (including overnight childcare).
I don’t resent anyone for it (no cope, I think my childhood was good overall). Parents both started from absolutely zero and became very successful. But I definitely am left with the feeling that if I can’t handle something, someone else will either do it incompetently or not think to do it at all.
That attitude has not yielded lots of friends or the support I probably need. People assume I don’t need anything and I don’t know how to ask.
Sadly, my wife’s parents did not make any effort to make her life better. Her dad is just a terrible person (abusive, neglectful, narcissistic, all the classics) and her mom is narcissistic, angry, hateful, and worst of all, helpless. She can walk around and do things but… She won’t. She will instead demand to be helped, fed, dressed, bathed, she needs the tv turned on, and she expects you to read her mind. When we were dating I remember her mom literally yelling at her for a week because my wife grabbed the wrong flavor of ramen noodles. She wasn’t told which flavor to get.
My wife is not only unstoppable, she is a saint. I can’t believe she married me.
your wife’s expectations are so low that your basic respect and competent and communication probably make you seem like a saint to her.