I work with 4 yo pre-k children and have several kids who love to tattle on others hoping to get them in trouble. I’ve tried to explain to them the difference between tattling (telling me or another teacher to get someone else in trouble) and reporting ( telling a teacher if they or someone is hurt or doing something dangerous). Some of them get it and are doing much better about not always coming up to me and tattling on their friends but others don’t or choose to tattle anyway. If Johnny is hogging the ball- don’t tattle. If Johnny punched Mary in the stomach and now she’s crying -tell me. If 2yo Tommy is putting rocks in his mouth on the playground and might swallow the — tell me.

I’ve read about having a “tattle bear” in the classroom where if a kid wants to tattle he/she can go tell the stuffed animal instead. Has anyone tried this? Does it work? At first I thought it sounded like a good idea but then started to think it might encourage tattling.

I have one girl who even likes to tattle on other kids when their parents come to pick them up. The other day when a boys mom came to pick him up she calmly informed the mom that he had had a time out after snack because he snorted his milk and spit.

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