Kicking, hitting, screaming, mouthing off and other large scale disruptive behaviors are the ones most often seen on TV as needed to be corrected by the Supernanny. It’s so, isn’t it? Yes. Most often there is a family struggling to control their young children who essentially run all over them, disregarding any imaginary rules or boundaries in their paths. This makes for good television and is easy for other parents and people to watch because the children that they have or know aren’t nearly so poorly behaved.

But thinking about it tonight, I came to the conclusion, at least for now, that kicking, hitting and the like are sometimes the easiest things to discipline. When your child is punching you in the face, even if you are unsure of where to start, you at least are usually aware that this is unacceptable behavior and that you’d like it to stop. That means that dealing with an aggressive child is not an easy way of beginning to implement discipline, but it is very straightforward. “I am putting you on the step (naughty corner, time-out, etc.) because you were hitting. Hitting is not acceptable and if you do it, you will sit on the step.” Straightforward.

When you have a child who is more prone to passive aggressive behaviors, or whining, or tantruming because he or she hasn’t gotten what they wanted, then sometimes there seems to be a fuzzy line when it comes to discipline. The truth is that not every situation that involves these three things listed (minus the other in-between situations that parents are faced with) calls for a time-out or some sort of response from the parent. And that can lead to a whole other problem. Instead of not knowing how to respond, not needing to respond, but responding anyway. I think that will be saved for another day though.

So while it’s easy to see misbehaving children and thank your lucky stars that your children are better behaved, it isn’t always so easy to deal with behaviors that are more under the surface. It takes more creativity, more finesse and often more thoughtfulness. In the meantime, no hitting please.