Battling Tattling

My first graders have spring fever. The weather is not cooperating most of the time, lately, and neither are they. It's an interesting dynamic in a classroom at the end of the school year. Many kids have become the best of friends. Many are even partners in crime. But often, as the year draws to a close, I see combinations of kids who seem to be in constant conflict with each other.

At the end of every recess, at least one little person makes a beeline for me, with the intention of reporting some horrible injustice that happened on the playground. After hearing their testimony, I usually put the ball back in their court, and make sure that they've tried to handle the problem themselves. It often takes much of the wind out of their sails when they confess that they didn't remember to try to problem-solve on their own and say "Please stop" as I've taught them. Some children think it will be  so much more satisfying to tell the teacher, then are disappointed when their report fails to get me emotionally involved.

My rules are firm. In my class, you can tell on someone if:

1. Someone is in danger

2. Something is getting broken

3. It's about you

I had to snicker last week, as the tattling attempts got a bit more creative. One child innocently asked, " Aren't we supposed to finish our spelling BEFORE we choose an activity from the work-tub?" Her subtle, but hopeful eye contact gave me a glimpse of an ignored spelling paper at her neighbor's work space. 

The conflicts get a bit ironic when one child tattles because someone has taken apart their lego creation during inside recess, only to find that at the next recess, they themselves are the newest perpetrator.

The tattling seemed to continue after I got home and turned on the evening news. During the CIETEC trial, grown men and women were pointing the finger at their co-workers and hoping their own crimes would go un-noticed. 

Hmmm. Kind of hard to tell the children from the adults....