Boundaries

This morning we talked about boundaries and how you need to be aware of a person's "personal space" or bubble.  We had some visitors last night who did not understand this, and it was good to talk to the kids about it, especially after Rhiannon said she'd felt pretty awkward, too.  I'd had a hard time sleeping myself, and when I exercised first thing this morning I was still feeling really weird about the experience.

The family who rang our doorbell about an hour before bedtime had wonderful intentions--they were singing Christmas carols and seeking donations of food, toys, clothes, and money for some very poor neighborhoods in town, people who got help during Christmas only.  I was happy to put some canned goods together for them.  But they crossed some small stranger boundaries that left me feeling anything but warm and fuzzy.

Here are the rules we talked about at breakfast:

If you're going to go around to strangers asking for donations for a good cause,

a) do not go door-to-door when it's dark outside.
b) do not ring the doorbell obnoxiously.
c) stand back, at least  two doormats' lengths away from the door.  Standing right up in people's faces is extremely uncomfortable.
d) smile.
e) do not overstay your "welcome."

I don't know, maybe they were happy someone actually came to the door and provided some items, but my thought, after already feeling uncomfortable, was "here's some canned food, thanks for the singing before, now please leave."  Instead, the dad kept telling the oldest daughter to sing song after song after song, while the other kids just kept staring at Rhiannon and Wade.  Awkward, awkward, awkward.

Why did I post about this?  To get it off my chest so I can move on, and to remind myself to respect people's boundaries, too!