Some things are too big to carry alone — how to know, and how to tell.. Read it together, at your pace. Every page is written in your child's voice.
1. Some problems are kid-sized: a lost pencil, a hard level, a small argument. I can handle those, or shake them off.
2. Some problems are bigger than kid-sized: something that keeps scaring me, someone getting hurt, a secret that feels heavy and wrong in my stomach. Big ones are not for carrying alone.
3. Here is the test my dad taught me: if it keeps coming back, if someone could get hurt, or if someone said "don't tell" about it — it is big enough to tell.
4. Telling is not tattling. Tattling tries to get someone IN trouble. Telling gets someone OUT of trouble — me, or somebody else. They are opposites.
5. Once I sat on a big one for days because I worried I'd get in trouble for saying it. The worry grew every day I carried it. Carrying it alone was the heaviest part.
6. Then I told my mom. I started with four words: "I need to tell you something." She stopped everything and listened. She said, "Thank you for telling me. You did exactly the right thing."
start with "I need to tell you something"write it down if saying it is hardtell my other trusted grown-up if the first is busyask a teacher or school counselor for help
7. The problem got lighter the moment two people held it. Grown-ups have tools kids do not have yet — that is what they are for.
8. My telling-people are picked and ready. I hope the big ones stay away. But if one comes, I know the four words, and I will not carry it alone.
In the app, your child can choose what happens next, rehearse lines out loud with Spark, and try different endings — including hearing a kind "no" and being celebrated for respecting it. Parents can also create fully personalized stories.