Empowering Children to Understand and Respect Boundaries in Relationships

Teaching our kids to respect other people’s bodies, space, and things is important, but where do we start? And how? It’s never too early (or too late!) to start teaching your kids about respecting others. Here are a few tips for helping kids learn about healthy boundaries: 

Model it!

We can show our kids the value of “no” and “stop” during play time or while engaging in daily activities. Maybe you’re having fun wrestling or tickling your child and you hear them say “stop!”. In that moment, we are able to teach them that when they say “stop”, hands go up and the play or activity ceases. 

Kids learn so much from watching us interact in their environment. Maybe the dog comes over to play and you pet them saying “we have to be gentle with our doggy”. Or maybe you watch your child give the cat a hug and a kiss. You could say something like “that was so kind, you were so gentle with our cat!”. 

Use music!

Music is memorable. We use music to learn things like our ABCs, phone numbers, ads on TV, the list goes on. Using a simple boundary song can help kids find the words and handle sticky social situations. “The Setting Boundaries Song” has become popular among many parents and teachers and the chorus is simple yet effective. If you’re not familiar, it goes like this: 

Please stop, I don’t like that

I’m feeling uncomfortable I need some space

Not around me don’t take it personally

That’s just a boundary, that’s just a boundary

The nice part is you can break the song into pieces and just sing line one, lines one and two, or the whole chorus depending on the need in the situation! 

Another simple song to help teach boundaries is to the tune of “Jingle Bells” and goes like this: 

Back it up beep beep, back it up beep beep

We have so much space! 

Don’t forget to use your words,

And look at your friend’s face!

Visit the BloomiVerse!

Our new BloomiVerse app includes ALL our original social/emotional children's songs to help kids build positive social skills, problem solving skills, coping skills, & resilience.

If you visit Lukey's Clubhouse, you'll find a song about setting boundaries during tricky situations like when friends have unsafe bodies or during conflict while playing together with toys.

Whether it's at home, at school, or on a playground this summer, kids are going to have conflict with each other -- it's just a part of learning and growing! Teaching our kids how to navigate those tricky situations in a safe and respectful way will help them build positive relationships as they grow!