Mistaken Goals (From the Positive Discipline Online Parenting Class)

Behavior actually is a coded message that reveals a child's underlying beliefs about himself and about life. When your child misbehaves, he is telling you in the only way he knows that (at least for the moment) he is feeling discouraged, or that he doesn't belong. As you learn to decipher the code, you will find that your responses (and eventually, your child's behavior) will change.