Setting Boundaries With Parents

Takeaways: Boundaries are essential in every healthy relationship, but setting boundaries with parents can feel especially tough. Learning how to set boundaries with family takes the stress out of get togethers, creates less guilt and more autonomy and freedom, and it can even improve the quality of the relationship you have with your parents or your in-laws. Read on to learn how to set (and maintain) boundaries with parents and bring your family relationships back into balance.

• Why setting boundaries with parents feels difficult
• Why do we need to set boundaries anyway?
• Creating and enforcing boundaries as a team
• Discussing boundaries with your parents
• 4 tips for setting boundaries with parents
• Being prepared for negatives responses
• Staying flexible

Why Does Setting Boundaries With Parents Feel So Difficult?

Do you experience uncomfortable tension around the family dinner table when gathering for holidays, or special occasions with your loved ones? Some of this tension may be a result of a breach of personal boundaries.  It’s not uncommon for families to have blurred boundary lines. Often due to a level of familiarity and comfort, we may find what lines we do have in place are frequently crossed – especially when it comes to our parents and in-laws. Why is this?

Setting good boundaries can often feel uncomfortable when the relationship is as delicate as a parent/child relationship. Even though you may now be an adult (married with children, managing your own affairs, and pursuing paths in life relatively foreign to that of your parents), your parents may still see you as their “child” in the sense of being inexperienced, unknowing, or naive to matters of the world. 

As a relationship coach and individual therapist, I work with my clients around setting boundaries quite frequently to help with their personal growth. Many of my clients have already put in the work to excel personally and professionally with boundaries in their workplace, friendships, and romantic relationships. When it comes to parents though, it’s a whole other ballgame! If you’re feeling this way too, welcome to the club! Whether you are navigating dysfunctional family roles or you just feel uncomfortable bringing up your own boundaries, one of the first things you can do is think about whether you’ve had that difficult conversation to establish the boundaries you need for a healthy relationship with your parents.  

Boundaries, similar to limits, are incredibly important to set early in relationships. We set them with our employers when we sign our employment contract, we establish them with our friends to maintain a healthy social/work/life balance, and we create them within our romantic relationships to protect ourselves and our partner. However, when it comes to our parents, these boundaries are set later in life as we become adults. As a result, this transition can often feel uncomfortable and confusing to navigate. 

Since we all have limitations, it’s essential to know your limitations so that others cannot take advantage of them. When it comes to limits, we are only in control of ourselves. The first step in setting boundaries is to remember that we can only change our own actions and perspectives, but we can’t change others. Secondly, we must understand that the act of setting boundaries can be uncomfortable for both parties. However uncomfortable it may be, it is an important part of becoming emotionally healthy.

I want to stress that this is a common experience, and you’re not alone in this struggle. Today I want to share with you some useful ways that you can begin to acknowledge where boundaries are needed in your parental relationships and tips for getting started in creating them and keeping them. 

Why Do We Need Boundaries Anyway? 

Setting boundaries is necessary for healthy relationships, for your own protection and mental health. It is important not to enable inappropriate or destructive behaviors – especially ones that lead to toxic relationships. Unfortunately, establishing boundaries and enforcing them with family can be extremely difficult, and even harder as you become an adult and get married. 

If any of these situations sound familiar, you may need to start that conversation with your parents about setting some boundaries!

• One of your in-laws causes division between you and your spouse
• Your mother-in-law does not approve of the marriage
• Your parents are struggling to accept you or your spouse as adult-children
• Your father does not like your spouse and refuses to accept them as part of the family
• A parent’s expectations of how you use your time, resources or how to raise your own child is out of alignment with your own set of values

With boundaries, you can protect yourself, your marriage, and your family. As a result, your relationship with your partner can become stronger. By communicating your own set of values and limits, you are still loving those on the other side of the boundaries, while opening the door for growth, forgiveness, and reconciliation. Boundary setting is the start of a healthy relationship between your marriage and your parents or in-laws.

Creating And Enforcing Boundaries As A Team

When setting boundaries with parents and in-laws, you and your significant other must have a clear understanding and be in agreement about what those boundaries are and how you will enforce them.

Being on the same page is vital to the success of your boundaries as a unit. This means that you will both need to treat this part of the process with importance. Find a time that works well for both of you to sit down together and discuss both your values and your concerns without distraction. Then, come up with solutions to those concerns by drafting boundaries that will ultimately lead to a more productive, successful partnership with your parents.  This practice will leave you and your partner feeling good about the decisions you come to, together. 

Do you and your partner feel differently about the boundaries in question? That’s okay; we all have different values and comfort levels (even in marriage!). This may be an excellent time to work through a difficult conversation and build a new skill within your relationship. This process of creating healthy boundaries should ultimately give you and your partner a sense of freedom and empowerment in your marriage. [Looking for advice on working through conflict constructively? Check out Constructive Conflict: Arguments That Help Your Relationship Grow for more information.]

Once you have your boundaries mentally rehearsed and your method for supporting and enforcing these boundaries as a team, you can then discuss them with your parents.

Discussing Boundaries With Your Parent(s)

How you address the conversation with your parents is as equally important as the boundaries themselves. For your parents to feel comfortable and not attacked, you shouldn’t shame or point fingers. Instead use this time to speak about the future and how these boundaries will ultimately build a better bond between you, your partner, and your parents as a unit. Encourage them to voice how they feel about what you are presenting and actively listen to develop a common understanding between both parties. 

Here are four tips I like to share with my relationship coaching clients to use when addressing their parents about necessary boundaries. Feel free to use them yourself!

4 Tips for Setting Boundaries with Parents

1. Be open and honest about how you feel, but recognize that this new information may be coming out of “nowhere” in your parents’ eyes. Respect their feelings and offer the conversation as a safe place to discuss both sides of the boundary.
2. Schedule your conversation or plan it around an appropriate time. Giving the other half a heads up about the conversation will lend to a fuller, more productive conversation with less confusion or defensiveness.
3. Respect your relationship with your parents – sometimes your parents might not see eye to eye with you and/or your partner, and that’s okay. Remember that change takes time.
4. Don’t let your parents take over your mission. If you have it in your heart to see change in the boundaries between your relationship with your partner and your parents, then don’t give up. You honor your relationship when you keep showing up for it. 

It’s likely that this conversation will feel uncomfortable for both sides. My advice is that the partner whose parents are causing the conflict or displaying unhealthy/inappropriate behaviors should take the lead in setting these new boundaries with their parent(s). 

Being Prepared For Negative Responses

Some parents may take this news extremely well, however, the response is often not rainbows and butterflies. That’s why these conversations can be so difficult! It’s important to prepare yourself for these common (negative) responses:

• Anger 
• Resentment
• Denial
• Guilt Trips
• Resistance
• Attempts for Spousal Division

You should discuss with your partner the plan for moving forward if these responses show up in the parent(s) feedback.

Boundaries CAN Be Flexible

One of the wonderful things about boundaries is that they can be flexible. Boundaries don’t have to be in place forever. The length and extent will vary from person-to-person or relationship-to-relationship. For example, you may need different boundaries to navigate tricky family situations over the holidays versus the rest of the year. The goal of the boundary is to take ownership of actions, to respect wishes, and to have the willingness to put in the hard work to change unhealthy patterns of relating. The level of acceptance and participation will establish the length and severity of the boundaries.

As people change and grow, boundaries change with them. Remember, you don’t have to feel guilty when you have these boundaries; finding your voice will help you feel empowered. Be willing to revisit your boundaries as you move forward in your relationships. Setting boundaries is a vital part of your own personal growth.  

Warmly,
Tomauro

P.S. — If you’d like support with created a more boundaried relationship with parents, I invite you to schedule a free consultation.

Sources

1. Brown SL, Manning WD. Family boundary ambiguity and the measurement of family structure: the significance of cohabitation. Demography. 2009 Feb;46(1):85-101. doi: 10.1353/dem.0.0043. PMID: 19348110; PMCID: PMC2831266. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2831266/
2. McKie, L., Cunningham-Burley, S., & McKendrick, J. H. (2005). “One: Families and relationships: boundaries and bridges”. In Families in society. Bristol, UK: Policy Press. Retrieved Apr 5, 2024, from https://doi.org/10.51952/9781847421371.ch001
3. Distelberg, B. J., & Blow, A. (2011). Variations in Family System Boundaries. Family Business Review, 24(1), 28-46. https://doi.org/10.1177/0894486510393502