Welcome to the Fabulous Hybrid Blog Carnival. Our topic this summer is BOUNDARIES! This post was written for inclusion in the quarterly Blog Carnival hosted by The Fabulous Mama Chronicles and Hybrid Rasta Mama. This month our participants reflect on boundaries in all of its many forms. Please read to the end to find a list of links to the other carnival participants.
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I wrote this shortly before our fifth child was born last week. 
Since I was totally enjoying the fam and last days of pregnancy, I decided to write on the topic of boundaries in parenting for just 10 minutes. To do so (because I really have much to say on the topic) this article is focused very specifically on an idea my friend, Christine, shared with me years ago when she read some of Jesper Juul’s book, Your Competent Child.
From what I gather, the idea is something like…
We can only set boundaries for ourselves.
Now, this may or may not strike you as profound. To me, this is life changing. As a parent, it can be really easy to think we need to control our kids, keep them safe, and establish boundaries for them.
In truth, we do not need to control our kids because we are influencing them with our every thought, word, and action. When we model what we want to see from them and approach parenting from a space of choosing to take full responsibility for our influence, control is not necessary.
In truth, it is our responsibility to keep them safe. We can do this in many ways, including through modeling and teaching them how to be safe, how to be aware, how to make choices, how to ask for help, how to experience the world as a safe space.
In truth, we do not need to establish boundaries for our kids, we only need to establish and affirm them for ourselves… in relationship to them, to our values, to our choices, to our desires, to the needs of our children.
Boundaries are never for anyone but ourselves.
We decide what we are comfortable with. We decide what we value. We decide what we teach our children. We decide what we say no to. We decide what we say yes to. We decide when we need to choose again, seek assistance, explore new boundaries, lines of safety, and societal norms.
We decide what boundaries do and do not work for us. Yes, we absolutely care for our children through boundaries, starting with ourselves.
Claiming, exploring, adjusting, and communicating boundaries is not always an easy process.
Once we recognize, though, that this is our process to behold — instead of thinking we need to do it for another — we are freed from the chains of controlling others and we can learn to live in harmony with them, including our children.
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What questions does the application of this idea bring up for you in your parenting experience? I’d love to discuss it further.
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Visit Hybrid Rasta Mama and the Fabulous Mama Chronicles to find out how you can participate in the next Fabulous Hybrid Carnival!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants.
- Boundaries For The Attached Parenting Sexual Abuse Survivor - Guggie Daly at The Guggie Daily discusses how to balance the boundaries needed by a sexual abuse survivor with attachment parenting.
- Setting Boundaries With Kids – Amy at Presence Parenting explores why boundaries may be more about us than our kids.
- Limiting Dysfunction – Wolfmother at Fabulous Mama Chronicles speaks speaks out about the underlying dysfunction in her relationship with her parents and the strategies she’s had to implement to ensure the psychological health of herself and her family.
- My Fence – Jorje shares how and why she she feels the need to be guarded with her family on Momma Jorje.
- How To Set and Enforce Boundaries – Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama offers 6 suggestions on how to more effectively establish and enforce your boundaries, especially with those who blatantly disregard them.
- Boundaries in Breastfeeding – JW of True Confessions of a Real Mommy explores teaching personal space rules to allow a respectful breastfeeding relationship as well as honoring their own body autonomy.
- 3 Steps for Respecting Boundaries While Fulfilling Needs Within a Marriage – Kym at Our Crazy Corner of the World talks about three ways her husband and herself protect their own boundaries while still meeting each others needs.
- Establishing Boundaries With A Babymoon – Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children shares how important enforcing a babymoon was to establishing a new parental identity in the face of her in-laws.
- Planting The Seed: Teaching Kids About Healthy Boundaries And Saying No – MomeeeZen recently had to teach her daughter about setting healthy boundaries and about saying “No”, even if it’s to someone in your family.
Deep mama….deep, deep, deep. This ought to get all kinds of wheels spinning. You are 100% correct though. The boundaries *I* set are based on my comfort level. My daughter’s comfort levels, interests, and abilities might not fall in line with my need for a particular boundary. With the exception of things like not running into a busy street and the like, I basically try to give Tiny the freedom to discover and set her own boundaries. She has always done this quite well and as a highly sensitive child, she really does need to take the lead on establishing boundaries. For me or my husband to impose our boundaries only leads to struggles for and with Tiny. I hope everyone reading this post gives it a lot of thought. There is a lot to digest here. Your 10 minutes was brilliant! As is your photo!
I thoroughly enjoyed this! It is so true! Thank you for the reminder (I needed it today, especially!). I hope your family is settling in well with the sweetest new addition
The first step “We can only make boundaries for ourselves” is REALLY profound for me. It would probably take a lot of stress out of my life to remember that and abide by it! Not so much in parenting, but in dealing with others around me on a day-to-day basis!
BTW, I love the picture of you at the lake with your baby bump…so precious!