Meet the Tattle Dragon.  When the kiddos tattle about inconsequential things (i.e. “she’s looking at me!” or “he’s not going down the slide” etc) I nicely direct them to the Tattle Dragon to tell instead of me.  It works pretty great, the kids actually talk to the dragon on the side of the toy box.  For one child that’s a little old for it, its still a great reminder for him to not tattle.  Us parents listening in the other room always get a laugh too!

Sadly, I don’t remember where I got this idea, so I can’t give credit where credit is due!