I was trying to help my 5 year old son understand the difference between a secret and a surprise.
We always taught him that we don’t keep secrets, mostly to try to keep him from lying to us, but also to protect him in general.
But when saying we need to not tell mummy about a surprise we are planning he tells me we don’t keep secrets. And this is what i came up with to help him understand the difference.
Secrets are kept and hidden from someone. whereas a surprise is held to be given to someone.
Surprises have an end. Secrets are forever. A surprise is a secret for now, but I can tell you later. Secrets are things I can never tell, which can be dangerous.