Being a successful kid or parent depends on…
‘knowing your limits’.
To succeed and thrive as a parent you need to set boundaries for your child. Know the areas where you are free to say ‘yes’ , explore / investigate…to your child. But you also need to ‘know’ the ‘no’s’.
To succeed and thrive as a child they need to know what their ‘no’-limits are. Where they are free to explore/investigate and what is limited access to them due to their age, maturity and size.
Your child is constantly growing, developing and changing. A ‘no’ today can become a ‘yes’ tomorrow. For example, my three year old granddaughter has sleepovers with me but her two year old brother does not. He knows that as we see him getting bigger that ‘no’ will become a ‘yes’. We ‘know’ his limits.
When I was growing up I heard this anecdote, not sure if it is true or just contains truth but it illustrates well with this idea.
There was an elementary school that was situated on a busy road. The playground ran along this road. At a school board meeting some concerned person thought that the chain link fence surrounding the playground made it seem like the children were in a sort of prison and it was suggested and accepted that it should be removed. After the fence was removed it was observed that the children no longer ran around the playground but rather huddled near the school building. Soccer & tag games were no more. Once the fence was replaced the children once again resumed free play throughout the entire playground.
The kids thrived within the security of their limits/boundaries.
1.We all need to hear ‘no’ sometimes
2.Let your child ‘know’ why it is a ‘no’ (is there a goal or milestone to be reached)
3.Choices should be age appropriate (at age 2 the choice between a banana or an apple)
4.Love says ‘yes’ but it also says ‘no’
5.Freedom to limit is liberating
“Let your yes be yes and your no be no for everything else beyond this is of evil” Matthew 5:37
