Reporting Incidents To Teachers

[KSmith]

I think there's a fine line that kids walk in reporting incidents to teachers without being labeled a tattle-tale. I don't know exactly where that line is. What do you think?

 

[daddyJoe]

It's important that kids know they can tell their teachers without being ridiculed by other kids. I would advise them not to threaten another child with telling, but to quietly go to the teacher and tell her/him in private, if possible.

 

[Jeff]

I started telling my son to tell the teacher if kids hit him, as he was complaining. But now if he gets a pat on the butt from either me or my wife he says 'I'm Telling' and runs to the other parent!

 

[Richard]

Half of it is doing what daddyJoe says (having your child tell the teacher in private) and half is how the teacher handles it. If the teacher makes it obvious that your child "told", the kids can still ridicule him/her. Hopefully the teacher is level-headed enough to handle the situation in such a way that this ridicule is avoided.

 

[the saint]

I agree with Richard. It depends a lot on how the teacher handles the situation. If a child tells him in private what happened, he should confront the other child/children in private and not tell the source to them.

 

[Jack]

I taught my kids they could come to me with ANYTHING so they always know they have an adult they can turn to and trust. This lets me "screen" what's going on and I can coach accordingly.

 

[Manning]

That's a good approach, Jack. I think the point about the way the teacher handles the situation when a kid tells is a good point, too. I'd like to believe that anyone who is a teacher would handle it in a way that nothing comes back on the kid that told, but unfortunately, it's not that way.

 

[noahsdad]

I tell my son that he should tell the teacher if he is being hurt, but not to run to them for every little thing. Unfortunately, now when he doesn't like something I say or do he says 'I'm telling mom"!