I know what this may look like, but USE YOUR WORDS!

I was about 6, I can't remember, but my dad got fed up with my taddling on my little brother. So he put both of us in time out. After that I knew that taddling wasn't for petty things like "Dad he walked over the line in our room and came over tomy side of the room!" (my brother and I shared a room up until I was about 7 or 8.) I used that power for things like "Dad he just tore down the rose bush! He was pretending to be a ninja turtle!" (Grounded from ninja turtles? BOO THAT! It was a boring summer. Why did I taddle!?)
Over the weekend, I learned that Corbyn's teacher was telling him that he needed to "come to her" if he had a problem with another student. So I realized this is why there has been so much taddle telling. (That and our neighbors are two girls - 7 and 10. Oh my god, they don't stop! WHINE WHINE WHINE!) Here's my problem with taddling on others. For one, What is this REALLY teaching our kids? Parents, don't you want your munchkin to be able to solve their own problems? Live a little more independantly? "Use your words" is probably the most common phrase I use. What I mean by that is talk it out with your friends. Say things like "Please share with me.", "Thank you for sharing". Are these things not common sense with the people who are teaching our children? I realize that I'm not perfect, and maybe letting my kid work the petty stuff out with his friends really isn't a good thing. But so far, it's working. The neighbors kids have never heard someone yell "USE YOUR WORDS!" before. They were completely dumbfounded. Sure I have to remind them a few times, but it's really catching on. I heard my mom, and dad use it with Corbyn the other day. I also heard my best friend uses it quite often. I'm hearing more polite things come out of my sons mouth, and the two girls next door. In fact they're quite pleasent to be around. It's a beautiful thing when you can hear your kids playing and getting along nicely, parents!
I think the real solution here is to simply be simple when teaching your kids about taddle telling, and playing nice with your friends. There's a lot of fun to be had so skip the grueling time outs, and the temper tantrums, and USE YOUR WORDS!

Signed,
Mom (The former taddle tell!)

As I was taking this photo the exact words out of his mouth were "Mom what are you even talking about?" Oh the joys!