Most of us know the importance of setting boundaries. We do this with the adults around us—friends, bosses, in-laws. But when it comes to our kids, setting boundaries can be incredibly difficult. 

I recently interviewed boundaries expert Dr. Henry Cloud on my podcast. Dr. Cloud co-wrote what is now the classic book on boundary setting: Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life. I encourage you to listen to the full podcast episode here [direct link to episode].

In our conversation, we talked a lot about discipline because disciplining your kids is the ultimate form of boundary setting. In my experience as a pediatrician, I know many parents feel uncomfortable with discipline. Telling our kids no a hundred times a day is exhausting, implementing consequences and sticking to them is difficult, especially when our kids are so good at talking us out of them. 

This is why I think it’s important to reframe discipline as simply setting boundaries—healthy boundaries that are good for your kids and good for you. Not sure how to do this? Here are three simple ways to get started:

1. Be intentional. 

One of the biggest mistakes we parents make…