Discuss the necessity of informing adults about dangerous, hurtful behavior. Define these terms with age-appropriate examples. Do not assume that students can apply the terms to real-life settings, so provide several hypothetical what-if scenarios for the children to discuss.
Use a white board to list examples of recent behaviors that were neither dangerous nor hurtful, but were reported by students. Encourage students to offer ideas about how each incident could have been resolved differently. Explain that although they can not control their peers' choices, children control their own choices when they choose to ignore inappropriate behaviors.
Share books that distinguish between tattling and telling. Examples include "Don't Squeal Unless It's a Big Deal: A Tale of Tattletales," by Jeanie Franz Ransom, "A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue," by Julia Cook and "Telling Isn't Tattling," by Kathryn M. Hammers. Encourage your students to talk about the story and apply it to their classroom (Reference 1, page 4).
Empower passive children with strategies to solve peer-related problems. Non-assertive children lack strong self-confidence and the skills to solve problems without tattling, and are at-risk for perceiving themselves as victims. Talk about how students can respond to future dilemmas and permit them to role-play the newly acquired skills. For example, the child can ask the offending child to stop the behavior, or tell the child that she does not like the behavior.
Respond immediately to reports of possible bullying. Bullies render their targets' problem-solving skills ineffectual through physical or psychological intimidation. Multiple reports concerning the same child are red flags that suggest bullying.