This article explores associations between mothers' trait verbal aggressiveness (VA) and maternal and child behavior during playtime interactions. Forty mothers completed a 10-minute play period with one of their children (range = 3-8 years) and then responded to D. A. Infante and C. J. Wigley's (1986) trait VA scale. Mothers' trait VA was associated positively (r = 0.48) with their rate of directing and inversely (r =-0.44) with their child's rated cooperation. Qualitative analyses of a subset (n = 8) of interactions suggest that mothers high in trait VA used directives to control the choice, rate, and duration of activities, and used physical negative touch along with directives, more than low-VA mothers. Behaviors associated with trait VA occur even during brief mother-child interactions in which triggers for aggressive behavior largely are absent.