What is the Difference Between Tattling/Snitching and Reporting?
Posted: December 26, 2017
We are about one month into the 2013 school year. How is it going so far? I hope it is off to a good start. Regardless of a good or bad start or what school your child attends, there will likely come a point when you are going to need to coach your child through a tough decision. As many parents know, children and teens often times use the word “tattling” or “snitching to describe anyone telling an authority figure about any type of situation that occurred. Since they fear being made fun of or looked down on, instead of going to an adult they simply keep what has happened a secret. The challenge is, without an interruption in the pattern of the bullying and the intervention from someone in a position of power, more than likely, it will continue.
To encourage children and teens to report bullying behavior when it happens it is important to help them see clearly the difference between the two words.
Tattling / snitching is when a child sees another child doing something that has nothing to do with him or another classmate and decides to tell a teacher for the personal enjoyment of watching the child get in trouble. It is actually a subtle form of bullying.