Tales from the Tattle Phone.

Recently, I listened to a wonderful podcast and a clip from This American Life about preschool children and their constant tattling on each other. I didn’t realize this was such a big deal, but when I asked my daughter, who is a preschool teacher, she told me it was a huge part of the class. With the parents’ and preschool staff’s permission, a journalist set up an old red wall phone in the classroom that recorded the children’s voices. He placed a sign over the phone that said “Tattle Phone” and recorded a message that thanked the children for calling and asked them to “Tell the Whole Story” of their complaint. The kids absolutely loved it; the phone was ringing off the hook all day long.

The comments are truly delightful; I especially love two from young girls. One softly asked about a boy: “Who farted in my face?” and quickly added, “And the worst part was he didn’t say he was sorry.” Another girl started with, “Thank you for taking my call. I have to go now,” and about an hour later, called again to say, “I just wanted to say I’m sorry I had to go.” Children are wonderfully honest, unafraid to share what’s on their minds. We can all learn something from these charming stories in “Tales from the Tattle Phone.”