The Difference between Tattling and Telling

In most cases, kids don’t understand the difference between tattling and telling. And with all the bullying problems as of lately we want to make sure our kids know when to tell an adult.
Stopping unnecessary tattling might be as simple as helping your child understand the situations where it’s important to report about someone else’s behavior versus when it’s not necessary or when they can handle a situation on their own.

Rules are everything to a young child. Their life is so structured and rules-driven that the breaking of any rule no matter how minor is a big deal. To begin to determine the difference in severity of a break in rules they need examples. That is why it is important that the adults around them lead by example.

Here are a few tips you can use to reduce the occurrence of tattling:

• Start paying more attention to your child’s tattling. This will help you understand what your child feels is an important infraction of the rules. Plus you never know when they might be tattling about something important.
• Each time they tell you an unnecessary tattle explain to them why it’s not a critical infraction on the rules.
• Explain to your child how they might have been able to solve the issue for themselves rather than tattling.
• Then reinforce that it’s important for them to continue to bring important issues to your attention. You don’t want to discourage them from confiding in you.
• If tattling persists, try spending a little extra time with your child. Sometimes tattling is another way for your child to get attention.


Hopefully you’ll begin to see your child make their own decisions on what’s important to bring to your attention and what’s not.
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