Your children need to feel safe and secure. Rules help provide the stability your children need. Just as we feel safer driving because we know the rules of the road, children feel safer with rules in the home. Some valuable aspects of rules are:

• Your children are less anxious and more secure when they know what your reaction to their behavior will be.
• Children entering foster care need to know what is expected of them in their new home.
• When expectations are not clear, your children's misbehavior may be "testing the limits" in order to establish predictable boundaries. This is one reason why the first few weeks of placement can be so difficult.
• In addition to providing structure and defining acceptable behavior, rules encourage learning, growth, and self-control.

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