What isn't asked

The other day I saw one of those common Facebook memes that had a quote along the lines of-- you can't get upset at someone for not doing what you didn't ask them to do.

Although that's obvious a concept, and although I think a major "lesson" of adulthood is to ask for what you want-- and that a surprising amount of time you'll get it (and not just in personal relationships but also in things like your professional work/job)-- seeing that did make me realize that I have a long way to go if I'm going to really/consistently or even generally ask for what I want.

I'm sure lots of us struggle with this. It takes a lot of vulnerability to risk not getting it after asking for it-- sometimes that can be more painful than not having it but also not having asked.

What are examples of some things you haven't directly asked of someone that perhaps you should?

I have an example from today. We were trying to have a no-screens day with our kids. I told my spouse if I was going to get through that and be able to be a focused parent in a reasonable mood, then I needed an hour in the middle of the day to just go off and be by myself; spouse indicated she did too. Our kids can be kind of intense and take a lot of energy to parent.... Anyway, we each got our hour, and it was great. We've done this before, but I think we need to admit that we need it consistently.

While we're on the topic of screens, I need to find an appropriate way to tell my parents I wish they would spend less time on screens when we're together (Which is typically one or two weeks spent together a year since we live on opposite sides of the U.S., though we'll be spending more time together in the future). I get resentful-- if we're home and not out doing something, they're pretty much just on screens-- and feel like they don't want to spend time with me, but I also haven't exactly asked them if they would spend less time on their screens when we're hanging out.

More examples to come, but feel free to share yours.