The conversation is the product
Why we count turns, not words, and how a homemade book gives you more of them.
The number of back-and-forth turns between an adult and a child, one speaks, the other answers, predicts later language ability more strongly than the sheer number of words a child hears. Not lectures. Not audiobooks. Turns.
Why a MirthTale book produces more turns
A book the child helped write has more to argue about. Why did the fox leave? Was that really the ending? Where was the sister? Children defend and revise their own stories in a way they never do with a stranger's, and every defence is a turn.
Questions that produce turns
- Why and how questions, not what colour questions.
- Questions about feelings: how did the owl feel about that?
- Questions about tomorrow: what happens after the last page?
- Wrong guesses on purpose: I think the bear did it. Children love correcting adults.
Questions that end turns
Quiz questions with one right answer. Questions asked too fast. Questions asked while looking at a phone. The screen on MirthTale goes dark for a reason: nothing in the room should be more interesting than the person answering.