NCIS S07E04

Gibbs claimed that what Ziva was getting was tough love, and Ducky shot back, "You do know there are other kinds?" So true. There's a bit of a movement, these days, focussed on "de-sissifying" people, most notably our children. (For the sake of argument, consider Ziva as Gibbs' daughter.) They claim that because the current trend of "sensitivity" in parenting has led to a generation of wussy kids with no sense of responsibility, no work ethic, no moral compass. Their solution seems to be, as Gibbs put it, "tough love." Nothing but.

I don't put a lot of stock in this idea, the idea that all kids need is stricter rules. I think the biggest parenting problems come from... well, ignorance, for one... and a lack of communication. This isn't always the parent's fault, of course. A child that's not willing to communicate isn't likely to be helped by any amount of lecturing. But I don't any amount of grounding, or spanking, or locking in a bedroom will help either.

Had Gibbs cultivated communication with Ziva throughout their relationship, it might have saved a lot of trouble when she returned to NCIS. It has taken four episodes for Ziva to talk about what happened between Israel and Somalia, and I was starting to feel like the plot was dragging a bit. But maybe that says something too. It shouldn't take that long to be able to talk to the people you care about. Communication needs to be practiced all the time or you get rusty. Hopefully the team at NCIS will have learned something from all this waiting and hiding, too.