Boundaries

Many unhappy homes have walls but no boundaries. 

Clear boundaries among family members help everyone communicate in a healthy manner and live together peacefully and grow closer. When boundaries are absent or unclear, family members lie and manipulate to try to control one another, they interrupt one another, tease and humiliate one another even after being warned, and dismiss one another’s requests to be treated kindly. In unhappy homes without boundaries, family members don’t respect each other’s need to be individuals, to say when they feel they’ve been treated badly, made to feel uncomfortable, angry or violated. Members are discouraged from thinking for themselves, developing interests different from the other members or having relationships outside of the home. Because of this, it is often difficult for family members to see where they begin and others end. Growing up in an unhappy home without boundaries often leads young people into unhealthy and controlling relationships where they are either the one being manipulated or manipulating others.