Monday Memory: Goodbye Tattling!

(Originally posted 06/25/12)

If you have more than one child, chances are you often have one of them running up to you letting you know all about the horrible things another child is doing. As I kid I always heard that it wasn't good to be a "tattletale." I never got that because I thought it odd that a parent wouldn't want to know about a child's bad behavior.  Often there would be a "loophole." It was okay to tattle if the other child was doing something that could cause damage to people or property. Still, how is a young child supposed to make that determination? Yet, I could see that often the tattler was being "bratty" and not letting an adult know about the other child's misdeeds for any other reason than getting some sort of satisfaction out of getting them in trouble.

I came up with a solution in my home, at least in instances where the tattler claimed to be the victim of the other child's bad behavior. So, say Dodeman is teasing Baber, and Baber comes running to tell me.  I immediately turn the conversation to Baber's heart. I tell him that he needs get right with God and forgive Dodeman. Yes, even before Dodeman apologizes. This serves two purposes. One, it takes the fun right out of tattling! LOL Two, it helps to train my children to have forgiving hearts. When someone refuses to forgive another, it almost always hurts the victim more than the perpetrator. When we have issues with others, sometimes we can't change the circumstances, but we can change our attitude.  Works with adults too!  :)

Happy forgiving!!!  :)