Sometimes our reaction in moments like these has less to do with effectively teaching our child and more to do with our insecurities around what the other children or adults are thinking about us. But saying “It’s not okay to hit” to the flailing child—just so that the other kids or the other parents won’t think we condone hitting—doesn’t actually teach Teddy not to hit. Teddy likely knows you don’t want him to hit. In fact, it’s not the knowledge that “hitting is not okay” that helps a child stop hitting.
