Apparently my children have just discovered this concept, and it’s driving me crazy. Here’s the scenario:
I’m a stay-at-home student mama who homeschools my own children, ages 4 and almost-7. Granted, my kids don’t get tons of social interaction outside of their own little worlds, but they go to birthday parties, play-dates, neighbors’ houses, family gatherings, etc., so they are not totally isolated.
The whole tattle-tale thing has never been an issue, though, until recently.
In the last month, I have started babysitting 3-year old twin girls for a friend (the girls will be 4 in April). They’re pretty good, although it’s been a challenge due to some differences in upbringing (which should probably be a whole other thread by itself). My kids, however, are the ones who have started with the tattling.
I have explained to them that “tattling,” as I define it, is running to me to report the actions of the other kids with the intention of either getting them in trouble or getting me to change what they’re doing. Telling me when someone is doing something that could potentially be dangerous, like jumping on the bed, is not tattling. Running to me every five minutes with loudly-voiced complaints that “she’s chewing on her straw” or “she’s putting her feet on my blanket” or “she used one of MY blocks” qualifies as tattling. It’s also incredibly annoying.
I have to stop literally every few minutes and put out fires. Mostly it’s just squabbling, but if I don’t intervene then my son (the one who’s almost 7) will start yelling and becoming belligerent. This morning he was banging on the bathroom door when I was in there, just trying to take care of business, because I didn’t immediately run into the living room when he reported that one twin was not sharing blocks with the other.
I’m not sure how to convey to my own children that it is not necessary to report every action of not just the twins, but each other, every minute of the day. This has started to extend to their interactions with each other when the twins aren’t even here. “Bubba made a mad face at me!” “She left her sock on the bed!” “He wouldn’t give me a hug!” All of this in that loud, whiny voice that so many kids use to get attention.
If anyone has ANY advice… well, I’d appreciate some insight. Thanks for listening!
I’m a stay-at-home student mama who homeschools my own children, ages 4 and almost-7. Granted, my kids don’t get tons of social interaction outside of their own little worlds, but they go to birthday parties, play-dates, neighbors’ houses, family gatherings, etc., so they are not totally isolated.
The whole tattle-tale thing has never been an issue, though, until recently.
In the last month, I have started babysitting 3-year old twin girls for a friend (the girls will be 4 in April). They’re pretty good, although it’s been a challenge due to some differences in upbringing (which should probably be a whole other thread by itself). My kids, however, are the ones who have started with the tattling.
I have explained to them that “tattling,” as I define it, is running to me to report the actions of the other kids with the intention of either getting them in trouble or getting me to change what they’re doing. Telling me when someone is doing something that could potentially be dangerous, like jumping on the bed, is not tattling. Running to me every five minutes with loudly-voiced complaints that “she’s chewing on her straw” or “she’s putting her feet on my blanket” or “she used one of MY blocks” qualifies as tattling. It’s also incredibly annoying.
I have to stop literally every few minutes and put out fires. Mostly it’s just squabbling, but if I don’t intervene then my son (the one who’s almost 7) will start yelling and becoming belligerent. This morning he was banging on the bathroom door when I was in there, just trying to take care of business, because I didn’t immediately run into the living room when he reported that one twin was not sharing blocks with the other.
I’m not sure how to convey to my own children that it is not necessary to report every action of not just the twins, but each other, every minute of the day. This has started to extend to their interactions with each other when the twins aren’t even here. “Bubba made a mad face at me!” “She left her sock on the bed!” “He wouldn’t give me a hug!” All of this in that loud, whiny voice that so many kids use to get attention.
If anyone has ANY advice… well, I’d appreciate some insight. Thanks for listening!
