The Secret About Secrets (and Ideas About Animals)

Lately I've realized something about my girls: they each ask for completely different things… but somehow they're asking for the exact same thing.

When Gemma wants clarity, she leans in with her big brown eyes and whispers, "Can you tell me a secret about that?"

A secret! As if I've been walking around with insider intel on why birds migrate or how dishwashers work. At first it threw me off—what secret? There are no secrets left in this house. Everything is facts, opinions, and the occasional emergency snack stash.

Then the other day, Jules proved they're cut from the same adorable, chaotic cloth.

We were playing when I asked, "Which animal would you like to be?"

She paused, looked at me with CEO-level seriousness, and replied, "Can you give me some ideas of the animals?"

It's not that she doesn't know animals—this child could outsmart a zookeeper. She just needed clarity. Are we talking about sea animals? Animals that fly? Animals that make questionable noises at bedtime? Important distinctions.

It got me thinking (dangerous, I know). And last night, as I was deep in Pinterest—because the playroom is being redesigned for the 47th time—I clicked a pin titled "50 Playroom Ideas." And suddenly it clicked:

We're all looking for ideas. For understanding. For clarity.

Kids ask for "secrets" and "examples" because they're trying to make sense of a world that changes on them every five minutes. But honestly? So are we.

We're constantly bouncing our thoughts off someone else, asking quietly—or loudly—

Am I on the right path?

Is there something I'm missing?

Is there another way to see this?

We pretend children are the ones in the middle of constant change… but the truth is, we never stop shifting either. Maybe not in dramatic growth-spurt ways, but in little internal ways. The ways that make us reconsider our playrooms, our dreams, or our identities at 10 p.m. while scrolling Pinterest like it's a personality test.

So maybe my girls aren't asking for secrets or animal suggestions.

Maybe they're learning the same thing I'm learning:

Life feels easier—brighter, funnier, less overwhelming—when we let someone else's ideas sit next to ours for a moment.

And honestly? That may be the best "secret" of them all.

Love, Gemma & Jules’s Mom