How many times have you heard the saying there are more than two sides to the story. Yours. Mine. And what actually happened. Several of the clients my company works with are law firms and so, I’ve had to get good at listening for the story, which leads us to today’s story lab. Before I introduce the lab, you may want to watch a few of these expert sessions from the summit to help you gain new perspectives. #Emotional Regulation Through Play w/Jen #Praise What Can Be Repeated with Max #The Depth of PLAY with Celia Now, let’s play! Two people witnessed the same event, but their stories don’t quite match. Listen carefully, compare their accounts, and decide what you think really happened. Gather Your Gear - Paper - Pencil or markers - Detective’s Journal - Two people willing to create competing accounts - This could be two kids recreating something that happened at school, and adult and child recreating why a chore wasn’t done, there are no limits. If you’re stuck, Step 1 has some other ideas. Steps 1. Choose a simple event. Keep it playful: a broken cookie, missing remote, knocked-over plant, mysterious noise, or similar harmless incident. 2. Choose two witnesses. Each witness privately decides what their character saw. 3. Hear Witness One. Everyone else listens without interrupting. 4. Hear Witness Two. Listen for details that match, differ, or are completely new. 5. Compare the accounts. What do both witnesses agree happened? Where do their stories diverge? 6. Question the witnesses. Detectives may ask each witness a few follow-up questions. 7. Build your best explanation. Decide what you think happened and identify which evidence led you there. There doesn’t have to be a predetermined correct answer. Twist: Same Facts, Different Feelings Reveal that both witnesses may actually be telling the truth.

Have you every stumbled across old family photos where there was nothing on the photo to tell you who was in the picture or what was happening? In the early 2000’s scrapbooking was all the rage and it made sense. Today, with digital albums and AI analysis, it seems like scrapbooking isn’t as popular. You may be asking yourself, what’s this about?! Well, it’s today’s activity of course. If you go to #The Mystery Photograph you can get even more ideas. Let’s start, right here on this topic. I’ll post a picture and you can try to decode it. A photograph captures one tiny moment, but it rarely tells the whole story. Look closely at an interesting image and use what you can actually see to uncover what may have happened before, during, and after the picture was taken. Gather Your Gear - An interesting family photo, magazine image, or unfamiliar photograph - Detective’s Journal - Pencil, crayons, or markers - Optional: magnifying glass Choose an image with enough detail to investigate but don’t explain its story yet. Steps 1. Take a silent look. Study the photograph for 30–60 seconds before anyone talks. 2. Notice the details. Look at people, objects, expressions, clothing, weather, background, shadows, and anything unusual. 3. Separate clues from guesses. Record what you can actually see before deciding what those details might mean. 4. Ask detective questions. Where might this be? Who might these people be? What could they be doing? What clues support those ideas? 5. Look beyond the frame. What might be happening just outside the photograph? 6. Build the story around the moment. What probably happened immediately before this photograph? What might happen next? 7. Compare theories. Which details did different detectives use? Did the same clue lead to different ideas? What do you notice in this picture?

Today is our last day of the summit and I’m excited to see what @Elliott Robertson has in store. Come join us at 1:30 Central time to discover ways to incorporate more veggies and more fun into your life. Next week, classrooms remain open and all live and pre-recorded sessions are there for you to watch and experience at your own pass. Perhaps, choose one theme or topic of interest and experience those sessions. Sessions range from 15 min to an hour and many of our speakers have also provided free gifts for you. No time to watch the sessions you missed? Grab an All-Access pass for $16 (I decided, I’m not raising the price) and receive a bundle with all resources and recordings. Go to Classroom > All-Access Pass. You’ll receive access to your bundle no later than Sept 5. Next week, we’re back in our regular routine with a new lab launching and a little summit surprise. How are you going to connect through play today?

I’d love to hear some thoughtful and honest opinions from parents and grandparents — both those with Christian values and those without. How do you feel about children or teenagers reading stories that include Gothic themes, witches, wizards, magic, spells or darker fantasy worlds, such as Harry Potter? For those with Christian values, do these themes conflict with your beliefs enough that you would avoid buying or recommending such books for your children or grandchildren? And for those without Christian beliefs, I’d be equally interested in your perspective. Would witches, magic or Gothic imagery bother you at all, or would your decision be based more on things such as the child’s age, how frightening the story is, the overall message, or simply whether it is a good story? I’m also curious about where people draw the line. Would you feel differently if the story contained witches and magic but ultimately focused on values such as: - friendship and loyalty - courage - standing up against corruption or injustice - making difficult moral choices - good versus evil - finding your own identity and purpose Do you see fantasy magic simply as imagination and storytelling, or does the presence of witches and spells immediately make a children’s or YA book less appealing to you? I’m genuinely interested in hearing both sides, rather than looking for one particular answer. So, parents and grandparents: would a Gothic or magical theme make you less likely to let your child or grandchild read a novel — and does your personal faith or belief system influence that decision? 🤔

Wow! Can you believe it's already Wednesday and we're on Day 4 of the summit? If you haven't been able to join live, all of the replays have been added to the classrooms, well, except for Cristal's. I'm editing that one today. Today we have a full calendar packed with all kinds of fun for you and your family. All times are central and check the calendar for zoom links. The fun begins at 9:00 a.m. with @Dale Cox sharing a bit of Physics with us. If today's session is anything like yesterday's food science session, you're in for a fun time. Next, joining us at 9:30 a.m. from the UK is @Varsha Mistry with an Indian Cooking demo. I've been a member of Varsha's community for a while now and I can vouch for the ease of prep, my family loves what I'm learning to create. At 12:00 p.m. @Henry Hunter will be joining us bringing Bread as Science and answering your bread baking questions. For those of you who have been in the community for awhile, you may recall my on Saturday We Bake posts where I share what I'm learning to create over in the Crust and Crumb Academy. At 2:00 p.m. @Elizabeth Houston will join us to share Unplugged Coding Stories. Liz and I met in another community and it turns out we live in the same town! Small world and fun tea time. Check the Map and see if there are community members near you that you can connect with. In this session, Liz shares what it actually feels like to think like a computer. Wrapping up the day at 3:00 p.m. is @Chanie Twersky who will be sharing some important insights on how to parent teens. It's a delicate phase in a child/parent journey and we sometime gloss over what's most important to address. And, if you have teen sons, you may also want to check out #Praise What Can Be Repeated with Max who works with moms of teen boys. A perfect complement to Chanie's session.