Tag: Parenting

I was talking with my daughter recently and she shared with me that she is teaching my granddaughter about setting and respecting physical space limits.  My daughter didn’t use those specific words, but it is essentially what she was referring to.  It reminded me of the importance of setting clear boundaries with others and the important responsibility of keeping and respecting boundaries of others and of ourselves.  It is good to recognize that we all have limitations and recognizing that and putting healthy boundaries up helps us to thrive.

My granddaughter is learning about a physical boundary, but there are other areas we may want to consider when thinking of boundaries.  Areas that I have learned to value and protect with boundaries include financial, time, energy, and emotional boundaries.  These can change as our circumstances change, but it is good to know what boundary I need or want to be in place for the c ...

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Spaghetti and Hurt Feelings

I am a pretty clumsy person. Like a keep-an-eye-on-me-around-closed-sliding-glass-doors, probably-should-never-eat-spaghetti-without-a-full-apron-on kind of person. Suffice it to say, my childhood nickname lauded my propensity to accumulate minor bumps and scrapes through incredible feats of un-coordination. I won’t tell you how old I was when I nearly broke my glasses walking into the corner of a doorway instead of through the doorway - although, to be perfectly clear, it was part of the transparent wall of a racquetball court…and that was the problem: it was perfectly clear.

 

Anyway, as my luck would have it, I’m also a pretty relationally-clumsy person. At times I completely miss that I have caused emotional discomfort or harm. I put my foot in my mouth routinely enough that I< ...

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“I didn’t mean to hit them! I just got really mad all of the sudden.”

“I can’t concentrate on anything right now!”

“I wasn’t trying to distract the class, I was just feeling kind of hyper.”

“I planned to go home to finish that project...next thing I knew, I had finished 4 episodes and a pint and half of Ben & Jerry’s.”

“I know I have to get my work done, but I don’t really feel like it.”

“I didn’t really want to snap at you like that...I guess I was just hangry.”

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My guess is that you’ve heard one if not all of the above statements at some point. Whether you’re a student, a parent, a teacher or an employee, chances are high that in the past week you or someone you care about has felt unmotivated, unable to focus, out of control of impulses and/or emotions. If you’re a kid, or if you’ve ever been a kid (that should pretty much cover everyone, I think) then you know the feeling ...

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