You hear the shrieking cry of, “Mooooom!” You know what is coming next. Tattling. It starts around two to four years of age and can continue into their school years, and can become annoying if excessive.

This is a delicate matter that needs discernment to handle properly. You don’t want to encourage the tattling, because then children will not learn the important lesson of how to get along in social situations and will always rely on someone else to solve their problems. But you should not ban “tattling” either. Ignoring every situation can result in retaliation that will escalate the situation and push kids away, and erode the security in knowing that they can come to you with problems. They need to know that you care about their problems. If you become unapproachable you risk the child becoming isolated and withdrawn when serious issues, like being bullied, arise. More