ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the positive relationships are impacted by trauma and how they are reformed and maintained long after the traumatic events have passed. A critical aspect of healthy relationships is the development of boundaries. In relationships between adults and children, boundaries help to teach children where they begin and end and where the adult starts and ends. Healthy boundaries communicate to children that there are limits to acceptable behavior, lines that should be crossed. Boundaries teach social awareness to children, helping them learn that other people exist and have needs, wants, and ideas separate from those of the children. Boundaries help to develop "theory of mind," a necessary component to the healthy development of empathy. Allow the child to experience the consequences of her actions, maintain emotional boundaries by owning her feelings for her, and help her understand the choices she made and the implications of those choices.
