An always unwelcome guest in our home is the Tattle-tale. This guest seems to make more frequent appearances during the long hot summer when the children are forced to spend vast amounts of time together. This summer has been no different. I have become frustrated with repeated visits but recently I stopped to focus in on the motivation for this technique of trouble-making. And what I noticed is the difference in reasons that each child comes running to tattle on someone.
The first I call the "Informant". Her reasoning is "Mom needs to know everything." She is not intentionally trying to get anyone in trouble (though that is often the result), she is simply reporting each event as it is happening or immediately after it's occurrence. So I have to ask myself is this really a tattle-tale or simply providing of information. I decided the former due specifically to the high-pitched whining used when reporting the facts.
The second motivation I've noticed is "Sabotage." This child's whole purpose is to ruin whatever fun the other child(ren) are having. Maybe there's a grudge or maybe it's just for fun but usually the result is the same. The fun and games come to an end. What's interesting about this approach is the person typically has no concern for the fact that he/she will also end up feeling the punishment for being a tattle-tale.
Then there's the "You're not doing something I can't." This technique often doesn't come into play until the tattle-tale has already tried to participate in whatever the behavior is but failed for some reason and has now decided that no one is going to enjoy it. Often in this case the tattle-tale forgets to mention their previous participation in said event.
There's also the "Ego-centered" tattle-tale. This particular person is generally trying to make themselves look good while getting another child in trouble. For example "I'm cleaning my room like you said but (insert name) is playing his DS." I find this tattle-tale particularly annoying because if their in cleaning their rooms I'm probably already upset with them and really not in the mood. And chances are I don't care whose doing what I just want it done.
So next time your kids start in on the "MOOOOOOMMM!!!!! (Name) is ..........." Take a moment to figure which tale-tattle your kid is it might make the moment a bit amusing.
