Jordan Peterson On How Boundaries Create A ‘Paradise’ For Kids: ‘Your Household Is A Walled Garden’

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson sat down with “Morning Wire” host and Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley to discuss his new DailyWire+ series, “Parenting.” 

In the interview that aired on Sunday, the famed psychologist offered a glimpse into his profound perspective portrayed in the series, including the moral authority of parents, their responsibility to raise capable children amid the modern cultural crisis, and the specific importance of “boundaries as a fence.”

The first full-length episode of “Parenting” is available now exclusively on DailyWire+.

 “Your household is a walled garden,” Dr. Peterson said. “That’s what paradise means, by the way. Paradise means ‘walled garden.’”

“The walls are there because they protect you from the outset and circumscribe a space, and a garden is a place where nature can flourish. If you set up a walled garden in your household properly, your children will play. That will give you a chance to play with your wife, which you want if you have any sense. The emergence of play in your household is an index of optimized harmony.”

Dr. Peterson argued that boundaries are crucial in minimizing anxiety so this “play” can flourish. 

“Boundaries as a fence reduce anxiety, and that’s the same thing with stable household rules,” he added. “You might say the rules are restrictions, but what they’re really restricting is the chaos that produces anxiety… Boundaries, in the abstract sense of the principles by which you run the household, produce the kind of predictable stability within which play and exploration can take place — and they quell anxiety. You’re doing your child and you and your wife a great favor by imposing that regularity.”

These boundaries, according to Dr. Peterson, are the grounds on which parents fulfill their obligation to shape their children. 

“Your role as a parent — there’s two that are fundamental,” he said. “One is to encourage your child to be maximally socially acceptable, and you want to have that more or less in place by the age of 4, or there will be trouble, and it will be severe and hard to fix. And then your household should be a proxy for the real world, which means that it’s your responsibility as a parent to encourage behavior in the household that would translate well to the real world.”