Online parenting course
Setting Boundaries
For parents of children ages 1 to 12, when the hitting, the screaming, and the “NO!” have taken over and you cannot tell whether you are being too soft or too strict.
If any of these sound familiar, you're in the right place.
Your child hits, and you don't want to punish them for it.
The hitting, the biting, the kicking. You know you have to do something, but the timeout feels too harsh and ignoring it feels too soft. So you freeze, and the behavior keeps happening, and you go to bed wondering what you are supposed to do instead.
You swore you would stop yelling, and you are still yelling.
You do not want to be the parent who shouts. But when nothing else works, your voice goes up, everyone ends up upset, and the guilt sets in. You want your child to learn another way to handle big feelings, and you want one for yourself too.
Your child challenges everything, and every limit becomes a battle.
They yell "NO!" at the smallest thing. Getting dressed, leaving the park, coming to dinner. You try to hold the line, it turns into a meltdown, and you cave just to make it stop. Then the same fight is back tomorrow.
Get started today
Setting Boundaries
US$44.59
- A Setting Boundaries Workshop that takes you from why boundaries matter to a plan you can use that afternoon
- Four Deeper Dive Q&A videos for the moments parents get most stuck: the hitting, the laughing that catches you off guard, the potty standoff, and the yelling
- A 7-day boundary-setting challenge, one short video and a reflection question a day
- A printable workbook for the common standoffs like hitting, dinnertime, siblings, and bedtime, plus a bonus resource list
- On any device, self-paced
What you'll learn
Understand What a Boundary Really Is
Why boundaries help a child feel safe. Learn why clear limits are not mean, and how the right boundary gives your child the security they are actually asking for.
A responsive approach, with no punishments or timeouts. Understand how to guide behavior without shaming, isolating, or bribing.
The need under the behavior. Get curious about what the hitting or the "no" is really telling you, so you can respond to the cause instead of only the moment.
Set It and Hold It Without Yelling
An easy-to-follow plan to set a boundary. Use a simple, repeatable way to set a limit, so you are not improvising in the middle of a meltdown.
How to use a Creative Yes. Learn to hold the limit and still say yes to the need underneath it, so a boundary does not have to mean a fight.
Calming tools so you stay steady. Find out why your child's big feelings hook your own, and get tools to stop yelling and stay grounded when they push.
Know What to Say in the Daily Battles
Scripts for hitting, yelling, and defiance. Get specific words for the behaviors that leave you stuck, instead of scrambling for the right thing to say.
A plan for dinnertime, siblings, and bedtime. Walk through the everyday flashpoints, from the dinner table standoff to the sibling fight to the bedtime stall.
Real examples you can use the same day. Watch how a boundary actually sounds out loud, then try it at home that night.
See what's included
12 short video lessons across three core parts, a Setting Boundaries Workshop, four Deeper Dive Q&As, and a 7-day challenge, plus a downloadable workbook and a bonus resource list. Over an hour of video in total, broken into bite-size lessons. Open any module to see what is inside.
The heart of the course. In one 34-minute workshop, Jess takes you from “I know I should set a boundary” to knowing how. She lays out the responsive approach step by step and works it through the situations that trip parents up most: dinnertime protests, screen-time struggles, sibling fights, and bedtime battles. The workbook turns it into a plan you can use that afternoon.
Workbook
Setting Boundaries
Video
Four short videos, about 20 minutes in total, on the areas parents get most stuck, each with practical scripts and a plan you can try right away.
Hitting
Video
Laughing
Video
Potty
Video
Yelling
Video
Seven short videos, about 30 minutes in total. Every video hands you one tool to try at home and a reflection question, so the learning turns into real change instead of one more thing you watched.
Day 1. Reflecting on Values
Video
Day 2. The Significance of Boundaries
Video
Day 3. Uncovering Fears
Video
Day 4. Choosing a Boundary
Video
Day 5. Time to Practice
Video
Day 6. Addressing Challenges
Video
Day 7. Wrapping It Up
Video
A short list to take things further once the course has done its work.
Setting Boundaries Resource List
Jess VanderWier
Registered Psychotherapist and mom of three
Jess VanderWier is a Registered Psychotherapist and the founder of Nurtured First. For years she has helped parents move past yelling and the daily power struggles, toward boundaries built on connection, understanding behavior, and teaching skills rather than punishment.
Her own parenting struggles are what started all of this, so she knows the overwhelm and the guilt from the inside, not just from across a therapy room. She teaches the way a good friend would, warm, honest, and full of real examples you will recognize from your own home.
Kinder, firmer boundaries, and a child who feels safe.
Jess, I just want to say how helpful we found the boundaries workshop! With the daily reflection, we talked about things we never would have thought about. We started setting boundaries around our 2-year-old touching our 6-month-old, and it’s helping us feel more confident!
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I have received great tips on how to level with my kids in different situations, not only in tantrums but with hitting and yelling. My kids are in the age group where I have to be more firm with boundaries and let them understand why I have to guide them through situations. I would recommend this course to all parents that need some guidance and to understand not to feel bad about why you are creating a boundary.
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I can’t recommend your workshops highly enough. They are thorough but clear, and I really like the printouts that come with each section. Your ethos aligns perfectly with my hopes and goals for setting boundaries in a loving way and supporting my children more effectively in the long term. I can’t wait to do more of your workshops—thank you so much.
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What makes this course different
It refuses the too-harsh or too-soft trap.
Most advice gives you two options when your child pushes: clamp down, or give in. This course teaches the third one. You learn to understand what your child needs and still hold the limit, so a boundary feels kind and firm at the same time, and your child feels guided rather than shamed.
The 7-day challenge turns watching into doing.
Most parenting videos are easy to nod along to and forget by dinner. This one is built to move off the screen and into your actual week, so by the end you have practiced setting and holding a real boundary, not just learned about one. Do it alongside your partner and you are finally parenting from the same page.
You watch a therapist hold the boundary.
Instead of reading a tip and hoping you get it right, you see Jess handle the hitting, the “no,” and the meltdown in real time, including her tone and her timing. You hear what holding a limit without going cold actually sounds like, and you can borrow it word for word.
Targeted help for the behaviors you keep losing to.
One general method rarely survives contact with a real toddler. So past the main approach, you get focused troubleshooting for the exact behaviors that trip parents up most, each with its own script and plan, instead of a one-size-fits-all answer you have to reverse-engineer at six o’clock.
Built for the parent running on empty.
You do not have to start at lesson one or finish the whole thing to get help tonight. Jump straight to the boundary you are fighting right now, lean on the workbook, and come back for the rest when you have the energy.
It still fits as your child grows.
The same approach holds whether you are setting a limit with a one-year-old who bites or an eleven-year-old who slams a door. You come back to it as your child changes, and it still works.
You can hold the limit and stay close to your child.
This was never about a perfectly quiet house, but about boundaries that hold without a fight, less yelling on your side, and a child who learns from a limit instead of feeling shamed by it. Start with the 34-minute workshop, then try one boundary at a time with the 7-day challenge.
Frequently asked questions
Parents and caregivers of children ages 1 to 12 who struggle to set boundaries. It is especially helpful if you have been trying gentle or responsive parenting and find that holding a limit feels either too harsh or too permissive, and you want a way that is neither.
It is designed for children ages 1 to 12, so parents of toddlers, preschoolers, and school-aged kids. The approach teaches you to read your own child’s needs, so the tools flex to fit the child in front of you.
Yes. The course is built with all kinds of children in mind, including highly sensitive ones. Because the whole approach starts with understanding your child’s specific needs, you can hold a boundary in a way that still feels safe for a sensitive child.
Free videos can genuinely help, and they are a fine place to start. The difference is that a tip tells you to “set a boundary” and this shows you how, with Jess walking you through the exact words and how to hold the limit when your child pushes back. That is usually the part the free version leaves out, the part that makes a boundary feel too harsh or too soft. If the free advice has already given you what you need, you may not need this. If you keep freezing the moment the hitting starts, this is the piece that has been missing.
The course holds over an hour of video, broken into 12 bite-size lessons between 3 and 34 minutes long. You can learn one idea in a spare few minutes and use it that day, and skip straight to the boundary you are facing right now.
Yes. The course is completely self-paced. There are no scheduled sessions and no deadlines. Watch in order, or jump to the struggle taking over your house today, and revisit any lesson whenever you need it.
You can start the moment you are ready or save the videos for a calmer week. They are yours either way.
Yes. Comments are turned on for the course videos, so you can ask a question right under the lesson you are watching.
No. This is parenting education. It does not diagnose anything, and it does not replace therapy, medical care, or other professional support. If you are worried about your child’s safety, mental health, or development, please work with a qualified professional.
You have 30 days from purchase to request a course refund if it is not the right fit and you have completed 50 percent or less of the course content. See the refund policy for the full terms.
Related resources
Support your child's whole world
Parenting Strong-Willed Kids
For the child who turns getting dressed, dinner, and bedtime into a standoff. Video lessons and scripts that show you why your child digs in, so you can hold a limit without punishment or breaking their spirit, for ages 2 to 8.
Parenting Little Kids
For the tantrums, the hitting, and the yelling you swore you would never do. Short video lessons that help you understand what is driving the behavior and respond without punishment, for ages 0 to 12.
The Playful Parent Toolkit
For the days when everything has turned into a power struggle. Printable games, activities, and simple strategies you and your child do together, so cooperation comes from the fun you have instead of one more consequence, for ages 3 to 9.
