Secrets and Surprises Learning the Difference Between Secrets and Surprises

This title introduces children to the difference between secrets and surprises. Children understanding that they don't keep secrets only happy surprises because they will always be told is part of their 'toolkit' to help keep them safe. Discussion questions for parents, caregivers and educators included. Suitable for ages 2 to 6. This book is part of the Little BIG Chats series.

The Little BIG Chats series has been written to assist parents, caregivers and educators to have open and age-appropriate conversations with early learners around crucial, and yet at times, 'tough' topics. And what better way than using children's picture books! Some pages will have questions for your child to interact with and discuss. Feel free to use these questions and the Discussion Questions provided on the inside back cover of each book to help you assist your child with the topic being explored. Stop at any time to unpack the text together; and try to follow your child's lead wherever that conversation may take you!

Suitable for ages 2 to 6.

There are 12 books in the Little BIG Chats series:

• Empathy: Exploring the meaning of empathy and kindness
• I Always Try: Developing a growth mindset of resilience and persistence
• Feelings: Understanding different feelings and emotions
• Everyone is Equal: Introducing the importance of gender equality and diversity
• Around the World: Celebrating the importance of racial equality and diversity
• Mindfulness: Exploring the importance of mindfulness and learning calming skills
• Families: Celebrating diversity in families
• Consent: Introducing consent and body boundaries
• My Safety Network: Introducing a Safety Network (3 to 5 trusted adults a child can go to if they feel unsafe)
• My Early Warning Signs: Exploring Early Warning Signs and what to do if a child experiences these signs
• Private Parts are Private: Learning private parts are private and what to do if touched inappropriately
• Secrets and Surprises: Learning the difference between secrets and surprises

The Body Safety titles should ideally be read in the following order:

Consent, My Safety Network, My Early Warning Signs,

Private Parts are Private, and Secrets and Surprises.

The remaining titles can be read in any order.

Jayneen (aka Jay Dale) is an experienced early years educator, author and publisher. She started her teaching career in the 1980s as a primary school teacher in rural Australia. She then moved to Melbourne and taught at a number of inner-city schools. In 1985, Jay had a change of career and became an educational editor and publisher.In the early 90s, Jay and her partner moved to Japan to work as English teachers. They lived and worked in Japan for over three and a half years. In fact, Jay's first daughter was born there.On returning to Australia, Jay began work as an educational author/packager. Since that time, she has authored and produced numerous award-winning titles for the educational publishing industry. Jay is also an accomplished children's book author, writing a number of titles for such literacy series as ZigZags, Totally Kidz, Deadly and Incredible, and a children's picture book series for Penguin.She is currently working with an educational publisher as lead author of a literacy series. Jay has written over 130 titles in that series.Jay is a mother of three daughters and was a school councillor at her local school for over seven years. This time spent in schools both as a teacher and a parent inspired her to ask the question of her community: 'What are we doing in schools to protect our children from unsafe touch?' When she realised very little was actually being done, she decided to use her authoring and publishing skills to write 'Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept' to help parents, carers and teachers to broach the subject of self-protection and to encourage children to speak up.After the encouraging response to 'Some Secrets Should Never Be Kept', she realised there was a need to further build upon the idea of children not keeping secrets about unsafe touch. Jay participated in Protective Behaviours professional development and attended numerous conferences on the topic to educate herself in how to keep children safe and provide them with prevention education. Jay then went on to develop and publish a comprehensive Body Safety and Respectful Relationship Teacher's Resource Kit as well as writing several more children's books on the topics of Body Safety, consent, respect, body boundaries, gender equality, and social and emotional intelligence. Jay's ongoing passion for the safety and empowerment of children continues today with new manuscripts and free-to-downloadresources always in the wings.

Cherie graduated from Loughborough University in 2005, completing a degree in Illustration. After leaving university she started freelancing within the greetings card industry, designing for all kinds of giftware products. Three years later she returned to her main passion - story telling.In 2008 she joined The Bright Agency (London) where she could grow as an illustrator; continuing her greetings work, but also branch out into children's book illustration.She works in a wide variety of styles, and adapts her work to suit a range of age groups. She views each commission as a new and exciting challenge. As well as illustrating, Cherie also writes her own books including the recently released 'Peter's Pebbles'.