Guiding children in finding social acceptance is on of the most important parts of the early childhood teacher's job. Opening the column with an anecdote from a pre-K teacher, Gartrell discusses what teachers can do when children cause conflicts on purpose and how teachers might prevent such conflicts.

Children with only months of life experience and brain development are just beginning to learn social problem solving. No wonder young children frequently make mistakes! Teachers tend to complain about tattling more than any other behavior. To many teachers, tattling is irksome, but there is more to this behavior than meets the eye. In this…