They say that talk is cheap. Well, they’re right, because the absence of talk is very costly. Communication is so important, particularly in a world so divided and reluctant to listen.

The Communication Trust’s 2017 report, Talking About a Generation found that children who struggle with language or have poor vocabulary at age five are:

• Six times less likely to reach the expected standard in English at age 11 than children who had good language skills at five.

• Ten times less likely to achieve the expected level in Maths.

• More than twice as likely to be unemployed at age 34 as children with good vocabulary.

• Twice as likely to have mental health difficulties, even after taking account of a range of other factors that might have played a part.

In the Autumn of 2021, I launched a Kickstarter to help me fund the manufacture of my card game, Natter Matters. If you backed it, can I tell you now in the sincerest of terms that I LOVE YOU and wish to marry you?

The premise of the game is such a simple one that I felt sure it must already exist, but apart from some printable conversation starters on Pinterest and some very worthy but not particularly accessible books, I couldn’t find what I was after.

I wanted something simple we could pick up and play over breakfast, take with us in the car or to a cafe and not worry that we’d lost the instructions or put it away in the wrong order.

Most importantly, I wanted to talk about big things with my family. Too readily, we fall into the easy pattern of surface level conversations- “Have you got your water bottle?” “Why do you suddenly no longer like potatoes?” “Did you write your thank you letters?” “Why is this sticky?” etc…

I know, from previous occasions when we’ve stumbled into deeper chat, that the children (at time of writing 12 and 7 years old) have come up with incredible insights that have changed my perception of both them and the topic under discussion. Showing children that their thoughts are relevant and interesting is so empowering. Adults have to have answers to mundane stuff, but none of us have definitive answers to the really big issues and that puts us on a level playing field.

Also, kids are (often unintentionally) hilarious and it’s worth having big conversations about morality just to discover what jovial little tyrants they really are.

Feedback from some happy customers! They seem to go down well with all ages! I’ve had many orders from teachers and those working in mental health services as well as parents and families.

Because the Kickstarter was successful in ways that make me blush with pride and a tiny bit of British embarrassment, I was able to order enough to have them for sale on my site as well as just fulfilling the Kickstarter pledges.

If you’d like a pack or two for you, your friends, family members, local schools, therapists, childcare professionals, people in the street… then click here and enter a world of meaningful chat.