Guest blogger: Faith!

I'm out of town this week and some fantastic guest bloggers are stepping in for me! Today is Faith, a "cyber friend" I met because Chickie is the same age as one of her kids. I'll let her introduce herself in her own words:

Hi, I'm Faith. I'm a homeschooling mother of four. Sprightly is 7 next week; Eager is 4; Tank is 3 & a very important HALF, and Peaceful is 20 mos. I blog at faithofallcrafts.blogspot.com. I'm an avid crafter who makes lots of mistakes because I'm an amateur. I am also an amateur parent, and parenting is what my post will be on today.

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What a very exciting thing to get to post on Beth's blog! Thanks Beth for allowing me to fill in while you're roaming with your little ones.

Today I'd like to talk about tattling. Anyone who has more than one kid has experienced tattling. If not, well, then I guess this post isn't for you. For the rest of you people out there with normal* children, read on...

I used to hate tattling. I didn't like it when one of my other children tried to get one of the other children into trouble. Then I had an epiphany. What if they're not trying to get the other one into trouble? What if, instead of a kiddo telling me something so that one of her siblings will be punished or reprimanded, she's just looking for empathy. Sometimes one just needs to be told that the world isn't fair, & that Mommy cares that they are feeling down about something.

My children don't always need me to fix things. They're telling something to me because they want to know that I care. Instead of dealing with the problem, trying to fix it or reprimanding the offending party, I have decided to instead offer a hug & a "there there now". Do you know that the tattling in my house has been cut in HALF since I implemented this plan? HALF!

When my children found I am listening & care, they showed me that "fixing it" wasn't quite so important as I had originally believed. Sometimes we all just need to know someone out there understands.

*I use the adjective "normal" about tattling children to make myself feel better