Secrets are a part of life.

Some secrets are proper to share, and some are not. 

Some things are just no one else’s business.

(If everyone knew them, they woudn't be secrets, eh?.) 

And some things should never be secret.

Let’s have some examples: 

When siblings shop for Christmas gifts, the youngest kids are often not told what the gifts are, or they would talk and ruin the surprise. These same young-uns will give away where they hide during hide-and-seek. 

Howabout when these older siblings (7 and 9 years) are playing in the house, and the 9 year-old throws a ball and breaks a vase, then tells mom the 5 year-old did it. The 7 year-old hears the lie, and watches mom scold the 5 year-old. 

The 9 year-old expects the 7 year-old to play along with the lie. 

This is a bad secret.

'Bad touches' to a child's private parts are a bad secret that shouldn't be kept. They should be talked about.

You may have a friend that starts every day by asking what you had for breakfast. 

This is not a secret, but you may get tired of hearing the question. 

Some people want to know more about your personal life than they have right to know. 

No one has the right to know everything about you, but God, and He doesn’t have to ask. 

He already knew it before you ever did it. 
And no one, adult or other child, has a right to make secrets with a child, that they don't want the police to know about.

You don’t tell people everything you know or everything you’ve ever done. 

Confession needs to be to the appropriate people.

I have done some impolite and some selfish things in my life. 

While I have tried to settled things with the offendees as I was able, you won’t find a page on this website listing everything I’ve done wrong. 

Nor will you find a page that lists everything I done right. 

There is such a thing as ‘appropriate secrets’. 

We should practice 'self-forgiveness’ after we have taken steps to correct a wrong, 

before people and God. AANNDD, we should be quiet and modest about the good we do. Again, God sees all.

Boy and girl stuff: 

As we slowly become men and women, our bodies change.  Some changes will be noticed, but not all of it. 

Girls learn to keep calendars that are nobody’s business except her Adult, her doctor and perhaps the female coach on her sports team. A girl-friend or sister also may know about it, but it’s no one else’s business. 

Appropriate secrets are a necessary part of a healthy life. 

Doc Watkins and Eva Carver had a secret about Doc's clarinet. That's cool.

Part of being a good friend is knowing how to keep proper secrets.

Eric J. Rose

middlegrademysteries.com
photo: https://www.nrm.org/2014/02/norman-rockwell-museum-welcomes-back-norman-rockwells-the-gossips/