Tattling

All children tattle. Most children tattle for attention. They want to feel important to the family dynamic. The act of tattling isn’t all bad. It does help kids develop observation and reporting skills. A child has to see what happened and report it to the parent adding critical details.

Tattling can become excessive and disruptive to the family dynamic. It then becomes important to teach your child when they should tell on others. Issues involving safety of a sibling are examples of good tattling.

Tips to Reduce Tattling

• Stress that the impact of an action is very important.  One example you can ask your child to consider is “is anyone in danger”.
• Make sure you don’t reinforce tattling. Rewarding the tattler, or punishing the sibling in front of the tattler could reinforce tattling behavior.
• Balance the good with the bad. Ask your child to report good behavior from their siblings along with the bad.
• Give your children all the attention you can. More attention may reduce tattling.

Tattling is a normal part of child development. However, if you feel you need to control this behavior try the tips above