What Does a Boundary Look Like? Summary and Analysis

Once again, the chapter opens with a narrative example. One author counsels with the parents of "Bill". The parents explain the problems they perceive in Bill's life and their efforts to eradicate said problems for Bill. The author points out that Bill, in fact, suffers from no problems. In effort to help Bill accept responsibility for his actions, the author advises the parents to stop helping Bill.

He offers the example of a sprinkler. If misaligned, it falls on the neighbor's lawn, and the neighbor takes no action, because he owns a beautiful lawn, with no work on his part. However, if one fixes the sprinkler to fall only on one's own lawn, the neighbor lives in dust and may be motivated to care for his own lawn.

Bill's father, however...