A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue: A Picture Book that Helps Kids Learn the Difference Between Tattling and Telling

Parents beware! This outdated book (from 2005!) is being used indiscriminately in elementary classrooms across the nation without evidence-base.From a parental and child development perspective, this book is appalling. Those who give it high marks have likely not reviewed recent evidence on bystander reporting and bullying in childhood.Teachers be aware teaching this concept may cause permanent harm by decreasing the likelihood that children/adolescents report inappropriate and bulling behavior. There is a deep evidence base behind the Olweus school intervention program which would directly contradict rule 4 (mind your own business) and rule 2 (only tell if it’s dangerous)... A child may not conceptualize inappropriate touching, coercion, or verbal abuse as “dangerous.”Recent research contradicts this book. Tried to include links but amazon apparently doesn’t allow.See Frontiers in Psychology, 2018. The Whistleblower's Dilemma in Young Children: When Loyalty Trumps Other Moral Concerns.Educational article from June 2018 Greatschools Does saying “don’t tattle” send kids the wrong message? Look at recent recommendations of Victoria Talwar, an associate professor in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology at McGill University in MontrealAnd Laura Paret, a clinical psychologist specializing in children and adolescents in New York City.This book uses garish illustrations and an intimidating story of catching a disease to scare children into not reporting. How it became popular? Probably the short-term quick-fix of shutting children up without attending to long-term bad effects in child development.Parents negatively reviewing this book are on the right track. See examples of reluctance to report inappropriate behavior, bullying, and inappropriate touching due to introduction of the concept of tattling.In our childrens’ classroom, this book causes continued disruption and grief for several children. One very meek child is now not reporting bullying behavior because she doesn’t want to be a “tattle tongue.” Instead she cries in the corner of the playground. And another child (also a high achieving rule follower) has been to visit the school counselor because he is worried about being labeled a “tattler.” Unfortunately the teacher of this class finds the short-term gains (intimidating kids into not reporting and not having to take time to deal with children’s social concerns) appealing and will not be influenced by evidence of ill effects. “Tattle” behavior in the class results in negative points.Teachers be aware: you can teach the concept of unhelpful telling and support independence and problem solving without this appalling book.At home we marked this book up with sharpie and then used it to start a campfire to emphasize to our children how off-base and dangerous these rules are.

Traumatized my child. She’s horrified and sobbing in her bed with her dad right now. She wants us to take the book back to the store tonight and come back right away to keep her safe. Beware. She’s never reacted like that to a book before.

I bought this book because a little girl in my son's 1 st grade class was telling on him making him upset. Once he misbehaved and he told the principal when she went to the classroom just for a visit which I found extremely wrong. She also told me, at pick up, that my son had misbehaved in school (nothing major, he didn't want to write that day) but my son is the first who tells me when he misbehaves so I already knew and again I thought the girl's behavior was inappropriate. So I started looking for a book on tattling and I found this one. I was invited to be a mystery reader for the class and I brought this book specifically for that little girl to listen to (my son may misbehave but he would never tattle on someone).The part I found funny was M.Y.O.B, so every time I read that I was like:"mind your own ...." and the kids would all scream "business!!!" And I would say "...or beeswax" (which is what the book says). By the end some kids started saying beeswax too, which made me laugh.And when I was done I asked "so kids, if someone misbehaves in class do we run telling their mom??" And all but 1 kids yelled "nooooo!!". You can imagine who that kid was.

My eight-year-old daughter's closest friend and classmate, "Suzy," is a swell kid that any parents would be glad to call their own, but she has the terrible habit of reporting on any perceived transgression, no matter how trivial or even non-existent--and frequently! I and my older kids discourage her from doing it when she comes over, but with only short-term success. Fortunately, Suzy is the rule-follower type, and so I decided to buy "Let's Talk About Tattling" (Joy Berry) to read as a bedtime story during her upcoming sleepover. However, it won't arrive in time, and so I ordered this book, too.The story draws the distinction between tattling and warning when there is a threat of danger/harm. However, it doesn't address reporting instances of property being damaged or stolen, as many other books of this kind do. Still, I think it's a story that will engage most kids from pre-K to second grade and hopefully encourage them not to be tattletales!

The book was a little too long for my five year olds, so I read ahead and noted the pages I needed to summarize. This is still great for teaching tattle rules. We read the rules at the end of the book and wrote the rules out on chart paper. We even made our own tattle tongues after reading the book. The anchor chart below has been in my classroom all year and I refer to it at least once a day! :)

I love this book. I used it in my classroom because I had a lot of tattling going on. It was silly things such as so and so is looking at me. So and so breathed next to me. It was getting to the point where I was pulling out my hair. I read this book and remind them that if you tattle, you could get tattle tongue. I also put up a poster called listening lou. I had a friend draw a person and I put ears on the poster. I also tell my children that listening lou would love to hear about it.

Great book! My 5 year old started school this year and had a little bit of an issue tattling on other students during the school day. A friend suggested this book to us and we purchased it. We read it to our two little ones and they both remember it very well. The tattling between the two of them, especially our 5 year old, has died down an immense amount! Even her teacher has commented on how she has stopped tattling. Our 4 year old also enjoys going around the home changing "itchy, itchy. scratchy, scratchy" which is a little ditty from the book. Definitely recommend this to parents with a child who is struggling with knowing when the right time to tell on someone is. The book not only teaches the lesson of not tattling, it teaches them when it truly is important to speak up. We highly recommend it.

A brilliant book for teaching children about telling tales. Yes it has the american term 'tattle tongue' - but it really doesn't matter as the lesson is just as valid. My granddaughter has really taken a liking to tis book.

Bought this book as my four year old is a bit of a tell tale. I think it is aimed at slightly older children but it certainly allows me to refer bck to the book when she tells tales. So worth the money

I have now bought about half of Julia Cook's books. Beware that as an American counsellor/writer the book does contain some Americanisms (eg tattle tongue), so best shared with a class, rather than children reading the text directly.

Good for 9 year olds

Great Help with SEN class