Additional Communication Boundaries

When it comes to raising children, there is a school of thought among many that basically says children function better with limits. If definite boundaries are set, they are more likely to carry on in a safer manner as well as feel more emotionally secure in doing so. This also gives the parents a greater sense of control. For instance, I have known parents who only allow their children to play with a specific number of toys at one time. If they want more toys out, then for everyone they take out, they have to put the same number back. This always made sense to me even though I did not practice it as well as I might have when my daughter was a little girl.

Reflecting on that has led me to wonder whether there should be more boundaries in-place when it comes to communication. On a broad scale, of course, "lines-in-the-sand" have been set. Such laws revolving around libel, slander, defamation of character, and even disturbing the peace exist for the purpose of ensuring all of us communicate within a prescribed range. Free speech but with specific limitations. Given how much easier our ability to be heard has become as a result of the many technological advances at our disposal, those broad parameters are needed even though they do not always prevent some folks the lines the laws represent.

I wonder about communication on a more narrow scale, however. Two people interact and one insults the other. A boss, for example, denigrates an employee causing that person to sit at their desk in tears. A husband get angry and takes his frustration out on his wife by verbally humiliating her in public. Sadly, such scenarios happen somewhere most every day. They are unfortunate and not right. Ideally, a lid should be put on them much in the way communication missteps have been curtailed on a broader scale. Giving people more legal tools to right communication wrongs that have been made against them is worthy of consideration.