Sometimes secrets can be huge loads to carry. When is it okay to lock your friend's confession up and when are we supposed to tell someone? Why keep a secret?
Your friend tells you she used to wet the bed when she was little or something else really embarrassing. Do you spread this bit of info all over the school? No! This is NOT okay to tell to others. If the two of you were confiding in each other about embarrassing moments, keep it to yourself. If you blab her bedwetting history, people will only react cruelly by calling her names. When your friend becomes known as Susie Bed-Wetter, you can kiss your friendship goodbye!
What if your friend tells everyone your secret? Do you run around school dishing out her dirt? Chances are you really want to! However, doing so will only lower you to her level. Instead, talk to your friend and tell her how she made you feel and that you don't trust her anymore. Hopefully, she'll understand her wrongdoing.
You catch your friend cheating on an exam. Do you keep it to yourself? Don't immediately run to a teacher. Talk to your friend first. Tell her that next time, if she needs help on a test, she can study with you. Explain that getting caught cheating on a test can carry serious consequences, like failing the class!
If you catch your friend stealing answers again, speak to your teacher privately. Explain that you think certain students are cheating. You don't have to name names.
If your friend confides in you that someone is hurting her or she's hurting yourself, take this secret seriously. Whether someone at home is abusing her or she has a problem with drugs or alcohol, your friend needs help. This secret, if kept, can have terrible consequences. Now, don't start running around blabbing to everyone. First, offer your friend help in finding a counselor or talking to her parents. If she refuses your help and seems to get worse, confide in a counselor or your parents. She might be upset at first, but in the end, with proper help, she'll see that you were helping her.
If Betty tells you she waxes her upper lip and Maria whispers to you that she has a crush on the quarterback, keep it to yourself! Friends go to each other with their dreams, secrets, and fears because they trust each other. Don't break that trust! Respect your friends and respect their secrets and they'll respect yours!
