You Tattletale!!

"Can you tell her to stop giggling?"

"He made faces at me!"

"She pulled my hair!"

"He sneezed all over my rucksack!"

Tattletale
tat•tle•tale
n. One who tattles on others; an informer or talebearer
adj. Revealing; telltale

Tattling or "telling on" is commonplace for many 5 – 10 year olds, and for many adults (especially teachers) it can be a real annoyance! As children, most of us were taught not to tattle on others and then the classroom policy continues to enforce this belief with youngsters throughout generations. But why? Why children are often eager to spout off about what little Jim or Anne is doing in the other side of the classroom?

How exaggerated are these tales when the reason is probably just as basic as a ploy to get attention? Or are these kids actually looking to get someone in trouble so they can gain superiority in "I’m better than you," or "I told you so?" Or they made up stories to make someone else look bad so they feel real good about themselves - insecurity issues or just purely immature, umm...? But how far do we go to call these actions "tattletale?"

What if a fourth-grade girl was chased by a fifth-grade boy and maybe received a peck on the cheek or had her skirt lifted? [psychologically harmful] What if she obeyed the class rules and not telling anyone about it? A celebrated case example is Davis vs. Monroe County Board of Education: a case in which the Supreme Court ruled that a female student could go ahead with a lawsuit seeking damages from her school district, because fifth grade male harassed her. The male student was prosecuted and convicted of sexual battery in juvenile court. Thus, does this mean some lingo for all of this tattling would help bullying matters a great deal? Under certain circumstances, being a tattletale is good? But do we still call this "tattling"?

Assuming we do, what about when all these kids grow up?

Maybe our society is just a big classroom where everyone should put up with "bitching behind one’s back" and "stupid pranks" at times from the tattletales among us (two-faced and gullible people are everywhere any way - depending which side you stand) since we might benefit if they also tell on other tales like worse crimes e.g. sexual assaults in workplace, or where drug dealers are. See, We may be better off living with a number of tattletales than none in that sense.


My suggestion?: place tattleboxes on every street corner (and collect those comment cards inside daily) and arrange weekly (or more often) group meetings for tattletales to mingle/ party :) Or become a tattletale yourself as you might find it fun being cursed by many!!

Inspired by my dear friend’s msn name I spotted the other day, cheers!!