Thursday, March 17, 2011

Parenting Tip of the Week--Don't Be Afraid of Boundaries!

     During any given weekly church youth meeting, I am always intrigued to hear from our teenagers about their lives and concerns.  Their "take" on the world can be fascinating to those of us on this side of adulthood.  In fact, just this past week a teen shared that he had actually enjoyed his past month of restriction.  Why?  Because it forced him to spend needed time with his parents and provided him with a definitive reason not to go out with certain friends.  "Oh, I can't go to her house.  I'm on restriction, remember?!  You know how my parents are?!"

     Hearing this story reminded me of words often uttered by my own mom when I was younger.  She would say, "Let me be the bad guy, Shannon.  If something comes up and you don't feel that you should be a part of it, blame me!"  I didn't realize it at the time, but she was doing me a tremendous favor.  Sometimes kids need us to set healthy boundaries that they can live within.  Parent, don't be afraid to be the fall guy for your child. 

     Chip Ingram says that boundaries are the guardrails of life.  Now, your child might disagree with you on this some days, but trust me, in spite of their protests, setting these boundaries might be actually doing them a huge favor!  God bless you and yours!  Shannon :-)

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