Wednesday, August 18, 2010

a little bit of tattling

we've been dealing with tattle telling around here a lot lately. trying to explain when its necessary and when it needs to be worked out on their own. sometimes they'll come and tattle before even attempting to work it out themselves.
we've started to be able to tell when thats why the're coming to us. we can just hear it in the way they say, "moommmmyyy," or "daaadddy."

the other day colby and molly were playing in colby's room and allen and i were in the kitchen getting dinner cleaned up. colby comes in and says
colby: "daaaddddyyyyy,"
allen: "wait. are you tattling?"
colby: "no, i'm just telling you that mol...."
allen: "are you tattling?"
colby: "no."
allen: "are you sure?"
colby: "well....just a little tattling."
allen: "no, colby. you dont tattle just a little. you're either tattling or you're not. do you want just a little poison, or no poison?"
colby: "no poison. well......what kind of poison is it?"
allen: "whats the most poisonous kind?"
me: "arsenic!"
allen: "arsenic."
colby: "whats it look like?"
allen: "its clear."
sidenote: we dont know what the most poisonous kind of poison is, nor do we know what arsenic looks like.
colby: "like water! i'll have just a little."
allen: "no! you wont have just a little. it will kill you. its poison. and we dont want just a little tattling either."
and we've come full circle. i'm not sure how we got there, or that it made any sense, and we definitely got off on a rabbit trail, but i'm mildly confidant the point was made.
and thats the most we can hope for at this point in the game.

2 comments:

sara said...

sorry I haven't been here in a while...summer has been crazy! love your header picture!!

with my three, we made a rule...when you tattled EVERYONE got in trouble..even the tattler. It didn't take but a few times before they figured out how to work it out themselves!!!

Dawn said...

We used to ask: "Is there blood or is anyone dead?" Well, okay then... no need to tattle. LOL