Can you find a similarity between a toddler, throwing a tantrum in the supermarket, trashing on the floor and a company employee who dislikes their new manager and arrives late for work with a new excuse every day? It is possible that they are both testing limits.
Borders and limits ara something that can be very real and objective like the road markings but they can also exist entirely in the psychological space. There are limits on every scale of human functioning – in society, in interpersonal relationships, in the individual psyche of every person. Depending on our personality and life history we have different skills for asserting boundaries.
Are there “good” and “bad” limits? How to ascertain if someone is crossing our boundaries and what to do to protect ourselves from intrusion. How to sense and respect other’s limits? The personal trait that relates to boundaries is called assertiveness – the ability to protect one’s own views, interests and personal space in a healthy, non-aggressive way. How can we cultivate it in ourselves and raise assertive children?