Dealing with tattling

amother

Babypink

Wed, Aug 10 2016, 7:27 pm

I have an almost 3 year old who has taken to tattling on his siblings (including the baby who is not capable of purposefully doing anything wrong). He comes to me and reports whatever grievance, mostly silly stuff. It's actually kind of cute how indignant he gets about things. In any event, I obviously don't want to encourage tattling, and I don't want to punish the oldest for things that likely didn't happen the way they're being described (especially if I didn't see or hear anything), but at the same time, I want him to feel safe coming to me if something has happened and I want him to know he'll be believed and protected from harm. Fact is, his older brother DOES sometimes push him around, as older brothers sometimes do, and when it happens, it's dealt with. How do I stay fair to the older one (not get him in trouble if he didn't do anything), nip the tattling in the bud, but without sending the message that I don't believe the younger one or won't help him when he needs it?