Tattling is always better when it's told to the President

I once did fieldwork in an inner-city preschool, full of eager, energetic young children. These children came from diverse backgrounds, families, and living arrangements, yet this made my experience that much better. These children always had something new to bring to the classroom and I always anticipated hearing what they had to say. In a classroom full of 30 three and four year old children, the noise level was mainly created by the constant tattling. Because the tattling became so repetitive and was often typical, "he said, she said" tattles, the teacher had to come up with an idea to control this problem. Instead of telling the children that their tattles were not important, she hung up a picture of the President on a wall in the back of the classroom. Every time the children had to tattle on someone for saying or doing something inappropriate, they had to tell their tattle to the President. When children forgot this rule, she reminded them that what they were telling her was just too important to not share with the President. So there stood children, talking to the "President", telling them their small problems. To me, this was creative. The teacher had to control this problem and now encouraged children to think through what they were telling the President. The children didn't want to just tell him any little tattle, they now had to think what was worth tattling on others for. This idea made children aware of their thoughts and their impressions of others in the classroom. Through this solution, not only did the children develop their cognitive thinking, they became aware of who the President was and that he holds a very important position.