Secrets that Sparkle

Secrets that Sparkle ⭐️Kirkus reviews GET IT. A rhyming picture book for ages 5+ teaching children the difference between sparkle secrets and sting secrets. Feelings do.

Written by Joy Stephenson-Laws - advocate and mother. Rules don’t protect children from people they love.

06/07/2026

When you say “tell me anything” — your child hears your tone of voice.
When you say “don’t be scared” — they hear how your shoulders move.
Kids don’t read words. They read us.
Before children understand language, they understand bodies. They’ve been studying yours since they were infants — long before they could repeat a single thing you said.
So when something hard happens, they don’t decide whether to tell you based on the speech you made about being a safe parent.
They decide based on what your body has been showing them all along.
Every calm conversation about something small is a deposit. Every regulated response to spilled milk, broken toys, lost homework, an awkward question — that’s the language your child is fluent in.
You don’t have to be calm every time. You just have to be calm often enough that calm feels like home.
Free resources and more at secretsthatsparkle.com
Save this — and send it to a parent who is doing better than they think.

06/04/2026

One day, your child may come to you with a secret that doesn’t feel right.
When that happens, your body will know before your brain catches up. Your chest will tighten. Your stomach will drop. You’ll want to react.
Don’t.
Take one breath.
Then say three things, in this order:
“I’m so glad you told me.”
“You did the right thing.”
“This is not your fault.”
Say all three. Slowly. Out loud. Even if your hands are shaking.
Everything else — the questions, the next steps, the phone calls — can wait an hour. This moment cannot.
Your child needs to hear those three sentences before they hear anything else.
Free resources and more at secretsthatsparkle.com 💛
Save this. Send it to a parent. You don’t want to be looking for the right words when the moment comes.

06/01/2026

Most dads aren’t loud about it.
But they notice. When their child gets quieter at dinner. When the laugh sounds a little forced. When they stop wanting to do something they used to love.
Dads notice.
The hard part isn’t noticing. It’s creating the kind of safety that helps a child tell you what’s really going on.
Try this:
“You seem a little different today. I’m here whenever you want to talk.”
Then wait. Don’t fill the silence. Don’t fix. Don’t ask three more questions.
Sometimes love sounds like patience.
Free resources and more at secretsthatsparkle.com
Send this to a dad who’s quietly doing the work.

05/28/2026

Summer is coming.
New camps. New sleepovers. New adults your child will spend hours with - without you in the room.
Most of those adults are wonderful. A few might not be. And your child can’t tell the difference yet.
But they can learn the difference between a sparkly secret and a stingy one. They can learn who their safe grown-ups are. They can learn that they will never be in trouble for telling.
Have the conversation this week. It doesn’t have to be long. It just has to happen before the first goodbye at the camp gate.
Free resources, the book, and more at secretsthatsparkle.com
Send this to a parent whose summer schedule is filling up. ✨. , , , , , , , , , .

05/26/2026

Every parent deserves the words. The guide is free. 👉 Link in bio.
Save this for someone who needs it. 💛

05/26/2026

Your child’s body is already telling them which secrets are safe and which ones aren’t. They just need the language to match what they’re feeling.
That’s what sparkle and sting gives them - not a lecture, not a list of rules. Just one question they can carry with them anywhere: Does this feel like a sparkle or a sting?
Because a child who trusts what they feel is a child who speaks up.
📖 Link in bio
Save this for someone raising little ones.

05/21/2026

Sometimes the most important thing we can teach a child is not how to “toughen up”…
but how to pause.

When Zola saw her friend crying because he didn’t make the soccer team, she didn’t tell him to “get over it.”

She sat with him.
She breathed with him.
And she reminded him:
One hard moment does not define who you are.

Feelings are real.
But feelings are not the final verdict.

Feel. Pause. Act.

Because when children learn to pause before shame takes over, they learn something powerful:
they can feel disappointment… without losing themselves in it.

05/19/2026

When something breaks, our feelings can get big fast.
Zola reminds her friend of something important:
Pause. Breathe. Feel first. Then decide what to do next.

Sometimes the crayon isn’t the real problem.
It’s learning that hard feelings don’t have to control us.

05/15/2026

Most parents ask, “How was school?”
Most kids say, “Fine.”

Try asking something different:

✨ “Was anything sparkly today?”
💔 “Was anything stingy?”

Most days, the answer will be no.
But one day, it may matter deeply.

And the words will already be there.

05/13/2026

Children usually don’t decide in one moment whether an adult feels safe.
They decide slowly… through patterns.

The tone in your voice.
How you respond when they cry.
Whether you listen or rush to fix.
Whether their feelings are welcomed — or minimized.

Trust is built in the ordinary moments before the hard conversations ever happen.

The ride to school.
The bedtime check-in.
The “How was your day… really?” moments.

Because children are always learning something important:

Is this a person I can come to when something feels wrong?

You don’t have to be a perfect parent.
You just have to keep showing up.

The goal isn’t perfection.
It’s permission to feel.

Address

Los Angeles, CA

Website

https://a.co/d/0eV366nn, https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joy-stephenson-laws/secret

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Secrets that Sparkle posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Featured

Share

Category