An important expectation in life, is ‘implied consent’. 

Legally, ‘implied consents’ means: When you get a driver’s license, you agree to show your license and proof of insurance to a law enforcement officer during a traffic stop, and submit to certain sobriety tests, as requested. 

If you don’t comply, you are breaking the law and can be penalized. 

But this ‘implied consent’ principle can be applied to other parts of life; 

If you do a certain thing, a certain thing might happen to you, simply because you did that certain thing. 

Here are some examples: 

If you become a teacher, you consent to the fact that pencils need sharpened, and accept the process. 

If you bring a bag of candy to school and show it off, implied consent says that you ought to shair, because showing means sharing. 

If you become a parent, you consent to the fact that babies cry, and need feeding, cuddling and diaper changes. 

You accept implied consent that children have needs you are obliged to provide for. 

And if your kids play school sports, you sign a 'release', saying you understand and accept expenses if they get hurt. 

This is a shade of implied consent. You accept the possibility of injures.

Given the statistics on car accidents, you consent that if you drive, you will probably be involved in a few accidents over a 60-year driving career. You will likely be both the cause-er and the victim of car accidents. 

This is tough to reckon, but accurate statistics tell the true story. 

If you buy a house in a city with lawncare codes and building codes, 

there is implied consent that you will care for your house and lawn. 

If you have a job, you often give your ‘express consent’ that you will report for work according to your schedule. 

However, employers understand that people go on vacations, or get ill, or have real emergencies. 

They give implied consent that your shift might need a replacement worker sometimes. 

Our bodies also operate under implied consent:

If we eat too many sweets, we may feel sick or even vomit. We know that before we indulge.

If we ride a bike while blind-folded, we usually wreck. That is understood.

If we drive impaired, (drunk, high or texting) we give implied consent to car wrecks. 

(Do you see how implied consent is like an expectation?) 

Implied consent is also influenced by family culture. Sometimes, it's a part of our blueprint for life.

If your mama brings the same dish to the family reunion three years in a row, it is implied that is 'her dish' 

But, some things that young people think are ‘normal’, are really not healthy. 

And these things should not be used as a blueprint for life.

 

I had a male cousin, who was an alcoholic, whose wife bought him booze, so he would stay drunk, and not care that she spent every paycheck on stuff that didn’t matter. It kept them broke, to the point of car-repossessions, though he went to work every day. 

Kids often repeat their parents' behavior, as a result of inherited-implied consent.

Girls, If your daddy is an alcoholic, you are not bound in any way, to marry an alcoholic, or to take up drinking. 

And you need to learn how to interact with men that are not alcoholics. 

Nor are you obligated to copy your mother’s spending habits. 

You need to learn how to budget from a competent older women who knows how to budget.

Boys, if your mama spends your daddy broke, you are not obligated to marry a woman who can’t live within a budget. 

You need to get acquainted with women that can comply with the budget that your salary implies. 

Nor are you obligated to become an alcoholic if your daddy is an alcoholic. 

You need a role-model of a sober man in your life. 

Implied consent is a part of life, but some implied consent is healthy, and some is not. 

Part of adulting is learning to sort between the good and the bad. 

At some point, you will understand that implied consent creates expectations, 

and expectations create implied consent. 

Eric J. Rose 

middlegrademysteries.com 

photo: azquotes