I’m loving the story you’re creating and thought, hmm, what else could make this fun. Then in my pre-morning tea creative burst, I thought, a baking challenge. Now, for those of you new to the community, I’m a fan of reality cooking shows, in a former career, I taught Hotel/Restaurant management classes to college students and chef’s apprentices so shows like the Great British Baking Show (Bake-Off, to the rest of the world), fascinate me. Since time in the kitchen with kids is also the #1 reply on our survey, I thought we’d help our adventure trio have some fun in the kitchen. Argh! I’m super wordy today. Ok, your challenge, if you choose to except. Use your skills to bake a batch of cookies for Barnaby and crew. You have until Sunday to share your bake picture. Best bake as voted by the judges, will receive an all-access pass to the culinary sessions from the Unplug & Play summit. Let’s go! Welcome bakers, to your Technical Challenge! For this round, you are flying blind. You have been provided with the exact ingredients you need, but the instructions have been... edited. You will need to rely on your baking instincts. We are looking for an even bake, uniform size, and perfectly golden cookies. On your marks, get set... BAKE! The Ingredients: 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon baking powder 1 cup butter, softened 1 ½ cups white sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract The Instructions: 1. Prepare your oven and baking sheets. 2. Combine your dry ingredients. 3. Make the cookie dough. 4. Shape the dough into uniformly sized balls and place them on the sheets. 5. Bake until perfectly golden. 6. Leave to stand for a couple of minutes on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. To complete the challenge: Post a photo of your finished cookies in the comments below, along with a note telling us what oven temperature and bake time you ended up using!

I created this image, with the help of AI. It features our community mascot, the kid and his friend. This is where we have some fun. I’ll start the story, and everyone builds on it one sentence at a time. Let’s play!

For those of you who have children, what are the biggest lessons parenthood has taught you? Not just practical things, but things about patience, responsibility, relationships, money, time, priorities, or even yourself. And if you don’t have children, you can still join in. What do you think people should understand, prepare for, or learn before having children? I’m curious because becoming a parent seems to change the way people see life in ways you probably can’t fully understand beforehand. So what is one lesson you wish you had known earlier?

Serious question… sort of. Adults have all kinds of humour — sarcasm, dad jokes, puns, silly nonsense, dark humour, slapstick, wordplay, ridiculous observations and jokes that probably should never leave the group chat. 🤣 But what kind of comedy would you actually feel happy sharing with children? I mean your own children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, pupils, family friends’ children… basically any small human who might repeat the joke at the worst possible moment. Would you happily share: - silly jokes - puns and wordplay - knock-knock jokes - funny misunderstandings - slapstick humour - gentle sarcasm - “dad joke” level comedy - observational humour And where do you personally draw the line? What I’m really curious about is this: What makes a joke funny enough for adults, but still safe, clever and enjoyable enough for children? Because “family-friendly” doesn’t have to mean boring. So come on — what kind of comedy would you happily pass down to the next generation… and what would you definitely keep locked away until they’re 18? 😂

I’m curious — do you involve your children in gardening? Do they help with things like planting seeds, watering flowers, growing vegetables, pulling weeds, or learning about insects and nature? I think gardening can teach children so many useful things without it feeling like a lesson — patience, responsibility, where food comes from, how plants grow, and even how to care for the environment. If you have children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, pupils, or other little ones in your life, do you garden with them? And what do they enjoy most — planting, watering, harvesting… or just getting covered in mud? 😂🌻