The Tattle Book

The Tattle Book

“Mom! He pushed me over!”
“Mom! She’s not playing fairly!”
“Mon! They are cheating!”

And the list goes on.

Do you ever get tired of the constant tattling? Having to referee arguments?

I don’t know how many times I’ve had this conversation:

Tattling is to get someone into trouble.
Telling is to get someone out of trouble.

There is a difference.

To combat the tattling in our back yard (made up of my kids and a lot of the neighbourhood kids) I use the Tattle Book.

Put a notebook outside with some pens and markers.
Tell the children that every time there is a complaint to record it in the log book.
If they cannot spell or write, they can draw a picture.

Tell them that at the end of the day, you will review all the complaints and pass your judgements then.

Guess what.

After a few entries, they get bored, and stop tattling!

I highly recommend this trick for a peaceful afternoon!