Anyone who has spent time with young children knows that tattling can be an annoyance. No, we don’t need you to tell us that Johnny is sitting in the wrong spot, that Jenna isn’t doing her work, or that Jamie has candy in his lunchbox.

Adults spend a lot of time helping kids understand when to – and when not to – tell them about an incident. By the time children reach upper elementary school, they may have heard, “Don’t tattle” hundreds of times.

However, it’s important that adults teach children that there are times when an adult should be notified. If we tell children not to tattle too many times, they may not know when to report something important.

Reporting is not the same as tattling. Reporting is what we hope children will do when they witness something unsafe or the problem is something they can’t solve on their own.

Reporting is an important component of bullying prevention. When students understand how to respond when they witness unsafe behavior, they create a safer classroom culture where bullying behaviors are stopped before they escalate.

So how do we teach kids the difference between tattling and reporting?

This free download is an excerpt from the Changemakers Guide to Bullying Prevention. It has been modified to fit any elementary classroom.

Download the free lesson plan below.