Many parents emerge from the foggy haze of the early days of parenting with its sleepless nights and endless diaper changes to the shock of suddenly finding themselves confronted with a tiny dynamo of a human with thoughts and plans and opinions and a will of their own. 🦋 Sometimes parents panic and start ‘laying down the law’ to try to gain control before things get out of control. 🦋 Sometimes parents are so caught off guard that they just stumble along in stunned acquiescence and let this strange new creature run roughshod over them. 🦋 But in any home, like in any civilized society, boundaries are necessary for the safety and comfort of everyone. 🦋 Boundaries are simply guideposts that show our children where the edges are — edges of safety, edges of acceptability, edges of their capabilities, edges of their emotional maturity, etc. 🦋 And for us parents, boundaries are guideposts that show US where our edges are — edges of our patience, edges where we need to step up our self-care, edges where our triggers lie (our fears, anxieties, old hurts, etc). 🦋 Setting and maintaining boundaries doesn’t require punishment or manipulation or intimidation. 🦋 Setting and maintaining boundaries involves modeling desired behaviors, gently redirecting unacceptable behaviors, communicating reasonable expectations, respecting the individuality of our children, and being aware of and responsive to our own limits. 🦋 It’s not about controlling our children or expecting them to act like adults. 🦋 It’s about exercising self-control and acting like adults ourselves. 🦋 It takes time, intention, and consistency. 🦋 And love. It takes buckets and buckets of love. -L.R.Knost _________________________ 💞Peaceful Parenting Resources: Link in bio💞 _________________________ 📷 @gentleparenting_memes @wildheart_mama 💞 #thegentleparent #peacefulparenting #parenting #children #faith #feminism #socialjustice #equality #globalresponsibility #humanity #peace #sexualassaultsurvivor #cancer #NETcancer #cancerwarrior #books #coffee #quote #LRKnost www.LRKnost.com Fighting a rare, incurable cancer, but I'm still here!💞 L.R.