The Tattle Turtle

So my four year old son is a major tattle tale. I thought that was solely a girl thing but apparently, it's a four year old thing. He even tattles on his own self which I find quite amusing. For example:

Him: Today I got a time out at school for pushing Ted out of the swing.
Me: Then no TV for you tonight.

I wonder when he's going to catch onto the fact that these confessions lead to restricted privileges. I guess even negative attention is attention. But back to the turtle.

The other day I was doing drop off and his teacher and I were chatting, and he comes over to tattle tale on Annie who said a "mean word." The teacher put up her hand and told him to go tell it to the turtle and he proceeds to walk over to the corner of the room and start talking to a stuffed turtle. I asked the teacher, what is that all about? as it was quite an amusing little sight. She proceeded to tell me that she teaches the difference between telling and tattling. You tell when:
- someone is hurt
- someone is need of help (bathroom, zipper, etc.)

Tattling is trying to get someone in trouble. Hence the tattle turtle. Genius!