Hellobee Boards

@blackbird: Haha, AMAZING!

When I taught, I told my students that "tattling is to get someone in trouble. Telling is trying to keep someone safe." Then if they were whining to me, I would ask if they were tattling or telling. (There were nuances, of course, but it helped shut down a lot of the "extras".)

I also made them do "tattle sandwiches." They had to tell something nice about the person they were tattling on, what they wanted to say, and then something else nice about them. I got a lot of "Soandso has nice hair, and she called me a name, and she's really smart." It at least brought some positivity, and it also made them give up the things that weren't worth coming up with nice things to say.

@jess1483: I love all that! I heard someone say that they go by the 3 Bs. You should only be telling an adult if someone is bleeding or barfing or if something is broken

@autumnlove: The other phrase that helped a ton was "did you tell them how that made you feel?" It puts it back on the kid to approach the other. Then if they say "yes, I did," then I'd say "oh, well, i'll go help you talk to them."