Feb. 23, 2026

TMIT 45: Bringing Back the Eureka Moment — Why We Need "Cognitive Patience"

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We have gotten incredibly good at removing friction from our lives. But in the process, we are realizing we've also thrown out the benefits that friction brings.

 

Today, we are talking about Cognitive Patience: the ability to slow down and engage deeply with a text or an idea without succumbing to digital distractions.

 

If we're honest, we are losing this skill. We find ourselves scrolling Instagram while watching TV, or opting for the 1-minute New York Times Mini Crossword over anything that takes sustained focus. And we are seeing it in our kids, too—where speed is the goal, and "confusion" is treated like a disaster instead of a natural part of learning.

 

In this episode, we discuss why we are intentionally re-introducing mental discomfort into our home so our kids can experience the joy of a true "Eureka Moment".

 

In this episode, we discuss:

 

  • The Atrophying Brain: Why we are all struggling to read long-form articles (and how AI makes it easier to quit).

  • The Graphic Novel Ban: Why we consider graphic novels "cotton candy for your eyes" and why they are currently banned in our house.

  • The Incubation Effect: Why stepping away from a hard problem is sometimes the best way to solve it.

  • Our 3 Principles for Practice:

    1. Make it relational (scaffold their learning).

    2. Focus on endurance, not correctness (bite your tongue!).

    3. Short repeated reps beat grand gestures.

And of course, here are our favorite "Cognitive Patience" Games for kids:

--

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Welcome back to The Most
Important Thing.

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I'm Danielle.
And I'm Greg, and together we're

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exploring family, culture and
leadership at home.

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Today, we are talking about
prioritizing cognitive patience.

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This is a term that Danielle
first threw out in an interview

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with the CEO of Tin Can.
And I think you and I had a

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moment where we locked eyes
through the computer screen and

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we were like, well, we need to
talk about that some more.

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It's something that keeps coming
up, probably because we realize

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just how much it's lacking in
our day-to-day.

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It's lacking and I I don't even
know if I have a great

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definition for it.
So do you have a way that you

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would explain it to people?
Sure, I can give you the

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neuroscientist definition from
Marianne Wolf, and what she

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calls cognitive patients is the
ability to slow down and engage

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deeply with a text or an idea
without succumbing to digital

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distractions.
OK.

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So this is something that's
fairly new then, right?

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Cognitive patients being the
digital distractions is kind of

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the the key, the key thing
that's pulling us away or is

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this throughout humanity?
Like where, where do we sit with

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this?
I think that cognitive patients

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has always been there, but we
didn't need a term for it

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because it was just called life.
It's no longer just called life.

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So this is one of those things
that got defined as we've lost

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it.
Yes, right.

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So it's not like someone has
more than someone else.

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It's more like we are all
looking for a way to regain this

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to to bring this back.
Yeah, I mean, certainly you and

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I have been looking for a way to
regain this more recently.

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Yeah.
I don't know if any of you can

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relate, but I just find myself
categorically incapable of

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reading a long form article
these days.

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Yeah, tell me about it.
We live in a world that has made

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it easier to quit, more so now
than ever, right?

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Yeah, tap out for sure.
And so we're not talking about

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attention span, we're actually
talking about sticking with hard

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things.
Yes, in the sense that cognitive

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patients really comes into play
when ideas start to become

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unclear and we really need to
push through to understand

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what's happening in the text or
in a word problem or in a game.

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I think that the mental
discomfort is really the is

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really the thing that we're
exploring today, right?

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Yeah, or at least how much we
are noticing how easy it is for

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us to tap out of it.
And I love Adam Grant says that

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the first rule of improvement is
to recognize the need for

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improvement.
And so that's what we're here to

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do today.
Yeah, right.

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It's something that I think you
and I consider ourselves to be

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pretty intentional people.
If you are listening to this

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podcast, it is because you are
an intentional parent and adult,

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right?
Right.

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And yet, I would be remiss if I
didn't think that some of us are

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scrolling Instagram while
watching TV at night with our

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spouse or cannot seem to get
through a long form article.

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Up until the last, you know,
maybe 20 years, like when you

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and I were growing up, cognitive
patience was something that we

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had no other choice but to
develop.

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And now we're realizing that
we're losing it and we have to

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turn this into a practice and
build it together as a family.

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Especially because I do believe
that the next generation, our

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children today do not have
nearly as many natural

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opportunities for cognitive
patients as we did.

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And so I think that we are the
ones that are able to really see

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that Delta, see that change
happening.

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And so it is our job as parents
and as leaders of our family to

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create more opportunities four
time away from digital

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distraction, time away to engage
deeply with a text or a problem

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so that our kids even know that
that exists.

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I'm, I'm not modeling it so well
for our family anymore.

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Like it's not something that is
innate and natural.

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It's something that I need to do
a podcast episode about just to

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be able to develop some some
practice areas to work on.

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Agreed.
So if you're anything like us

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and you are finding yourself
increasingly distracted, even

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when you've decided that you
want to focus on something that

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is worth your attention, this
episode is for you.

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And so today we're going to talk
about why cognitive patience

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matters and offer three guiding
principles in how to grow and

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support cognitive patients
within our family.

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Love it.
So first, what are some examples

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of cognitive patients in
everyday life?

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We've talked a bit about reading
a novel or a long form article

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rather than just skimming it,
right?

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But there are others.
I would say when it comes to

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text, there's also the idea of
writing something yourself, not

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with GPT, and rewriting and
revising it, being able to

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engage deeply in the written
word that you've written.

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Oh, totally.
Right.

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And so I think AI and in
particular our consumer use of

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it as opposed to the engineering
use of it, right, is a, is a big

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part of why you and I are
finding the need to dedicate

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space to cognitive patients.
Because it is just getting

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easier and easier to develop a
cursory or surface level

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understanding of something and
even share it with someone

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through e-mail or otherwise.
And keep moving, right?

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And I feel the muscles in my
brain atrophying where I'm not

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developing deep understanding or
allowing myself to think

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critically about problems
because there's always a cheaper

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dopamine hit or digital
distraction one click away.

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Absolutely.
There's a lot of examples that

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we could we could go into just
around AI.

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I want to keep this a little bit
higher level.

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There's plenty in modern day
today.

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I mean, even just look at, you
know, I, I do New York Times

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games on my phone and you know,
well, even 10 years ago, people

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used to sit with a physical
newspaper and do the full New

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York Times crossword because
that was what was available to

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us.
Now we can do the crossword mini

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with a timer in under a minute,
right?

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It's like 7 questions.
They're no more than 5 letters

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each usually.
And so the world is really

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creating these opportunities for
us to keep it surface level.

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Well, when the currency is
attention, absolutely that's

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going to be the the way that we
get optimized through someone

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else's funnel.
You know, often times I'm guilty

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of this.
I know you are too.

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I open up X or Instagram and I
forgot what I went there for.

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I'm like reading something.
I'm like, wait, I opened this

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for a reason.
I was like, look, going to go

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look something up.
It's brutal.

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It's really brutal and This is
why we wanted to talk about this

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explicitly with our family and
with all of you, because if we

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don't dedicate intentional space
for long, long form reading,

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sustained mental attention, it's
just not going to happen.

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No, not only is it not going to
happen, but it's it's going to

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feel like a chore when we need
to do it.

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Yeah, well, I already see it in
things like word problems with

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Hunter today, right?
Hunter is great at math

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computation.
It comes easily to her.

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She wants to keep moving and
moving, progressing and

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progressing through longer
division and more difficult

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fractions, things like that.
But give her a word problem and

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all bets are off.
Like the chances of her being

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able to read and comprehend A3
sentence word problem and really

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understand which computations to
do and what is the question

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actually asking is a big
challenge for her.

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It's a big challenge for her.
And you know, she's 8, so some

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of this is developmentally
appropriate, but more than

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anything, I see her desire to
rush through and and continue on

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to the next problem.
So, and it's not, and you know,

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I do spend some time with her
peers.

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And it is not just Hunter,
right?

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It is that everyone wants to
just pick a computation, say,

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you know what, these two numbers
look like they should be

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subtracted and move on.
And so now we've been spending

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time, we have a couple days a
week where we just do word

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problems and we're, we are
trying to really immerse

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ourselves together in the story
of the word problem or the

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outside of the box logic
problem, because that is how we

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really learn.
That's how understanding is

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deepened.
And this, so much of this is not

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about productivity or
achievement.

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It's about practicing the skill
of staying engaged even when

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thinking becomes uncomfortable.
Of course, what I've noticed is

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that with Hunter, speed is the
name of the game.

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Endurance does not really affect
the way that she thinks about

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things.
If she's tapped out, she's she's

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done.
She's not like, oh, I'm going to

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push through confusion like
that's the enemy, right?

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If she's confused, like there's
something that's gone horribly

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wrong, instead of like, that's
kind of the point.

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Let's read the problem again.
And I think that's natural,

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though I do think, you know,
some of it is being a kid in

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today's world, but some of it is
just being a human totally.

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We are doing more than ever
while feeling less than ever,

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right?
And that's something that I read

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in an article recently that
really resonated with me.

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So I think you and I feel the
need for cognitive patients,

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right?
We feel it slipping from our

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fingers and we are intentionally
trying to bring it back into our

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family.
But why?

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Why does cognitive patients
really matter?

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And so I did some research and
it turns out that this is where

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learning really happens.
When a person can stay with an

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idea for long enough, that's
when we can deeply understand

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instead of just surface level
comprehend.

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And it's where we can start to
make connections and see through

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lines to other things in our
life and really be able to play

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with the problem, right?
So once we're able to move

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beyond that surface level
understanding, that's when we're

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in a, we're able to build
critical thinking skills.

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And really this is the
opportunity to look at a problem

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from someone else's perspective
or be able to evaluate an

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argument from both sides, right?
And it is through slowing down

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reading long form, whether
that's a novel or a long form

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article or playing with a
problem, that the answer doesn't

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immediately reveal itself that
we are actually able to create

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that type of learning.
And then the third reason is

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really that it's so confidence
boosting to know that I can stay

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with this, that this problem got
difficult and murky and I didn't

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know the answer right away, but
I figured it out, right?

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And in a world where every
online education tool has a

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little button at the bottom of
the question that says, hint, we

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are not giving our children the
opportunity to stick with things

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in the way that they are so
capable of doing.

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And so this is where we as
parents, we as leaders, really

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need to support our children in
holding a high standard for

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cognitive patients.
And that begins with us.

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It sure does.
And yet there are so many

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opportunities today to take the
easier route.

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So lately we've had a lively
debate in our home around what

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books to check out at the
library.

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Yes, and in particular, at least
at our Delray Beach Public

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Library, there are a ton of
graphic novels.

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So a.
Huge section with like four or

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five different bookshelves,
front and back rows and rows of

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graphic novels.
Basically, if there has been a

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popular series in the in the
juvenile fiction, it has been

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turned into a graphic novel and
they're glossy and they have

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pretty pictures.
Our kids gravitate towards those

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so much faster than they
gravitate towards the actual

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chapter books.
Of course.

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Those are certainly not an
opportunity for the cognitive

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patients that we are talking
about today.

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00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:21,880
And so for now, graphic novels
are banned in our home because

217
00:13:21,880 --> 00:13:28,360
if you like a book enough or
series enough to want to read

218
00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:35,280
it, I want you to be reading the
chapter books, creating the

219
00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:40,840
imagery in your brain, and
actually reading about another

220
00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:43,680
person's perspective, not just
the quotes of what they're

221
00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:46,520
saying and the beauty of written
text.

222
00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:50,120
Well, it's marketing, right?
Graphic novel sounds, they're

223
00:13:50,120 --> 00:13:54,000
novels in it, right?
It's it's, it's definitely

224
00:13:54,000 --> 00:13:58,480
something that is teed up for
kids to want and that is not an

225
00:13:58,480 --> 00:14:00,120
accident.
No, it's not.

226
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,280
And I think there's a lot of
promising research out there

227
00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,840
that says for a certain type of
child, one that is not inclined

228
00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:09,880
to read, graphic novels are a
great entry point.

229
00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:12,160
Sure.
That is not what we have in our

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family.
We so far seem to have three

231
00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:21,960
very eager readers, and what
that means is that they can fly

232
00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:27,840
through six graphic novels in a
day and be incredibly stimulated

233
00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:33,840
by what they have seen from a
visual processing standpoint and

234
00:14:33,840 --> 00:14:36,760
what they are trying to ingest
from a dialogue standpoint.

235
00:14:36,840 --> 00:14:39,000
Right.
And so we've been asking this

236
00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:43,800
question around, like, what are
you actually trying to achieve?

237
00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:47,760
If you really want to immerse
yourself in the world of Wings

238
00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:52,880
of Fire, a graphic novel is not
the way to do it.

239
00:14:53,400 --> 00:15:00,080
A graphic novel is a way to
speed through and only get a

240
00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:05,680
tenth of the dialogue, of the
context, of the imagery, of

241
00:15:06,760 --> 00:15:11,240
intonation, which is completely
lacking other than, you know, an

242
00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:16,120
exclamation point or an italics.
And what we find is that we have

243
00:15:16,120 --> 00:15:21,520
hyped up children who think that
they have conquered something

244
00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:25,400
when really they've just created
this very surface level

245
00:15:25,760 --> 00:15:28,440
understanding of a world that
where they could go so much

246
00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:30,200
deeper.
It's like they're watching a

247
00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:32,680
screen.
The text is there, the pictures

248
00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,480
are there, they're just not
hearing anything.

249
00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:36,080
There may be a time and a place
for them.

250
00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:38,400
I don't want to throw the baby
out with the bathwater.

251
00:15:38,640 --> 00:15:42,680
However, in the context of
building cognitive patients, I

252
00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:46,000
don't see a place for graphic
novels in our family home.

253
00:15:46,120 --> 00:15:48,680
Agreed.
I I will label them remedial

254
00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:50,840
fiction.
I will label them cotton candy

255
00:15:50,840 --> 00:15:52,320
for your eyes.
There we go.

256
00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:57,200
What about the thing that you
have heard from a number of

257
00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:01,080
children as a push back?
Yeah, so it has been.

258
00:16:01,080 --> 00:16:03,760
It has been shared with me from
some of the children in our

259
00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:08,480
community that I need graphic
novels, otherwise I won't know

260
00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:11,120
what these characters are
supposed to look like.

261
00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:13,920
And when I suggested that they
use their imagination, I got

262
00:16:13,920 --> 00:16:15,320
blank stares.
Yeah.

263
00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:20,640
So these are anecdotes, right?
And multiple anecdotes are not

264
00:16:20,640 --> 00:16:26,560
data, but it does show, it does
give me the confidence that I

265
00:16:26,560 --> 00:16:30,480
need to say as one of the
leaders of our family, that just

266
00:16:30,480 --> 00:16:34,720
because there are a ton of
graphic novels available to us

267
00:16:34,880 --> 00:16:38,120
when we go to the library does
not mean that we need to take

268
00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:40,000
them.
Just because there are a ton of

269
00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:44,680
quote healthy food snack items
at Whole Foods doesn't mean any

270
00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:46,400
of them are appropriate for our
family.

271
00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:48,400
That's right.
Yeah, great.

272
00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:51,200
And that's, that's the
conversation that bike riding to

273
00:16:51,200 --> 00:16:54,600
school today, Hunter Jade and I
had, which is that it's a lot

274
00:16:54,600 --> 00:16:57,200
harder to be a kid today than it
was 30 years ago.

275
00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:02,080
And I'm sorry for you because
you are inundated with ways to

276
00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,920
take the easy way out there.
You know, where we had the

277
00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:08,319
Babysitter's Club, you could, if
you even can find the

278
00:17:08,319 --> 00:17:10,520
Babysitter's Club on the
shelves, which I couldn't the

279
00:17:10,520 --> 00:17:14,359
last time I went to the library.
But you can certainly find a

280
00:17:14,359 --> 00:17:18,200
graphic novel, which by the way,
if you're wanting to buy and not

281
00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:21,520
borrow at the library, costing
multiple of the price of the

282
00:17:21,520 --> 00:17:24,480
typical novel, right?
Yet can be consumed in what, a

283
00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:27,599
tenth of the time?
So I do.

284
00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:33,280
What I've been trying to express
to the girls is that my standard

285
00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:37,960
has not changed just because the
denominator of what is publicly

286
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:42,520
available has increased in the
amount of crap that is out

287
00:17:42,520 --> 00:17:46,080
there.
I'm still going to direct you

288
00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:49,840
towards and focus your
opportunities on the things that

289
00:17:49,840 --> 00:17:52,640
meet our standards.
Yeah, We have to play a lot of

290
00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,000
defense.
Like these are packages that are

291
00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:57,560
sold to parents just as much as
to the kids.

292
00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,880
The kids want them because
they're, you know, easy to easy

293
00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:02,680
on the eyes.
And you can, you don't have to

294
00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,960
use your imagination.
But in all these cases, it's

295
00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:08,040
ours to decide what gets
through.

296
00:18:08,160 --> 00:18:12,880
And so that defense really is
about how to practice together,

297
00:18:12,920 --> 00:18:15,720
how we sit through hard things,
and then it won't matter.

298
00:18:16,240 --> 00:18:19,280
Right.
And so I have a couple of ideas

299
00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:23,640
for how to sit through hard
things together as a family in a

300
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:24,960
gamified way.
Yeah.

301
00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:26,680
So can I share some of my
favorite games?

302
00:18:26,680 --> 00:18:27,480
Sure.
OK, great.

303
00:18:27,480 --> 00:18:30,120
And we will link to each of
these in the show notes.

304
00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:33,280
So one of my favorite games is
called Cat Crimes.

305
00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:38,280
It is a who's to blame logic
game and it's by think fun.

306
00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:42,560
But you can buy it on Amazon and
there are 40 crimes to solve,

307
00:18:42,560 --> 00:18:45,040
from beginner to expert.
This is a fun one.

308
00:18:45,400 --> 00:18:46,320
It's so fun.
It's.

309
00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:49,360
A really fun family game.
It is and I, I have to say that

310
00:18:49,360 --> 00:18:51,840
I know a lot of kids that
really, really enjoy it because

311
00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,360
it can be at all levels because,
you know, question #1 is really

312
00:18:55,360 --> 00:19:00,000
easy.
Question 40 took Hunter and I5

313
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:04,080
days to complete.
And so, you know, talk about

314
00:19:04,760 --> 00:19:09,160
cognitive patients, right?
So not only did we give it our

315
00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:12,600
sustained attention for, I don't
know, 20 minutes, thirty minutes

316
00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:18,440
at a time, but we had to come
back to it day after day and

317
00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:23,440
push through when and know I can
stay with this and, and it will

318
00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:26,040
come, right?
And so there's this brain

319
00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:27,760
science idea called the
incubation effect.

320
00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:31,320
We all know it, which is that if
you can't figure out a problem,

321
00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:35,160
take a walk, get away from it
for some time and allow your

322
00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:37,080
subconscious to do the work for
you.

323
00:19:37,080 --> 00:19:41,480
These opportunities are so rare
today to use the incubation

324
00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:43,600
effect, right?
So rare.

325
00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:46,800
So Cat Crimes is a great
opportunity to use the

326
00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:49,280
incubation effect, especially as
you get into the harder ones.

327
00:19:49,280 --> 00:19:54,400
But basically what it is, is a
number of proof statements to

328
00:19:54,560 --> 00:20:00,160
help you figure out where the
cats should be sitting in the

329
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,200
living room.
And you get to figure out who

330
00:20:04,440 --> 00:20:10,000
ruined the shoes or ate the bird
to solve the crime.

331
00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:13,440
Yep, yeah.
And there also is dog crimes if

332
00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:15,080
you're more of a dog lover.
No, I didn't know that.

333
00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:16,920
Yes, it's the same.
It's the same idea.

334
00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:22,880
But the thing that this provides
is a Eureka moment, right?

335
00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:25,600
Yeah.
When you finally solve it, the

336
00:20:25,600 --> 00:20:31,120
joy, the Eureka of it all is
what I'm after.

337
00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:35,000
Yeah.
And that takes cognitive

338
00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:38,360
patience, right?
There are some ideas that can

339
00:20:38,360 --> 00:20:41,440
only come to us if we have the
patience to wait for them.

340
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,160
And in this world today?
The Eureka moment.

341
00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,000
We need to create them.
That's that's a really good

342
00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:51,920
notice.
We don't have space for many of

343
00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:54,000
those.
And when we do bring them back,

344
00:20:54,120 --> 00:20:57,040
they feel so good.
I give a couple more, of course.

345
00:20:57,040 --> 00:20:59,480
OK, so this is another one.
This is like a great travel

346
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:02,240
game.
A friend told me about this.

347
00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,680
It is called Puzzle IQ.
This one's called IQ Fit.

348
00:21:05,680 --> 00:21:07,000
They have a couple of different
ones.

349
00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,720
And this is like a 3D piece, but
it's it's basically a spatial

350
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:15,760
version of cat crime.
So if cat crimes is written word

351
00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:20,120
proof statements that you have
to use logic to figure out who

352
00:21:21,000 --> 00:21:25,080
committed the crime, this is a
puzzle opportunity where you're

353
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:31,200
given half of the solution and
you need to rotate the pieces in

354
00:21:31,200 --> 00:21:35,360
your in your brain or actually
physically on the board in order

355
00:21:35,360 --> 00:21:38,600
to fill out all the holes.
So I love these.

356
00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:41,360
I mean, at the through line with
all of these games, in addition

357
00:21:41,360 --> 00:21:44,160
to the opportunity for Eureka
moment, because some of these

358
00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:47,440
take me forever.
It's that they give you a

359
00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:51,040
problem statement and then you
have to come up creatively with

360
00:21:51,040 --> 00:21:53,760
the solution through a lot of
trial and error.

361
00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:59,520
And there are moments of
frustration, moments of complete

362
00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:02,480
ambiguity, or even how do I get
started?

363
00:22:03,120 --> 00:22:07,200
And what I have seen in our kids
with things like cat crimes and

364
00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:09,680
puzzle IQ is they just get
started.

365
00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:12,320
And that is what we're trying to
cultivate here.

366
00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,000
Just get started because you can
do this.

367
00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:17,840
It's just going to take some
time to push through for all of

368
00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:20,400
us, for sure.
And then my littlest one, which

369
00:22:20,400 --> 00:22:24,640
has been a, a huge hit with all
three of our kids, It's one of

370
00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:26,960
these Haba games, which we love
Haba here.

371
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,000
And this is a Haba construction
set, but it's the same idea

372
00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:35,280
where they give you a problem
set and then ask you to figure

373
00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:40,480
out what blocks are used to
create this construction set.

374
00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:45,440
So three different
developmentally appropriate

375
00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:49,880
opportunities for cognitive
patients for a lot of trial and

376
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:56,320
error and I can guarantee some
Eureka moments and a feeling of

377
00:22:56,320 --> 00:22:58,440
I can do this in working through
them.

378
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:05,840
No hints, no cheat cheat, no
prompting AI, just your brain

379
00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:08,120
and working through a problem.
Exactly.

380
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:11,320
So those are the some of the
things that we have found in

381
00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:14,840
order to really sustain
cognitive patients as a family.

382
00:23:15,120 --> 00:23:17,760
But we would love to hear from
you if you have any other

383
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:21,600
favorite activities or games
that really support cognitive

384
00:23:21,600 --> 00:23:24,360
patients in your home.
Yeah, I think that's why people

385
00:23:24,360 --> 00:23:26,800
take up golf.
It's definitely slowing down

386
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:28,360
that feedback loop, that's for
sure.

387
00:23:29,680 --> 00:23:33,200
And so I wanted to talk about 3
things to keep in mind while

388
00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,000
cultivating cognitive patients
at home.

389
00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,760
I think we've touched upon
these, but just to really make

390
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,480
the implicit explicit as we are
apartment to do here at the most

391
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:45,640
important thing.
So the first is that cognitive

392
00:23:45,640 --> 00:23:47,920
patience is relational before
it's individual.

393
00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:52,800
So all of these games that I
mentioned, cat crimes, Puzzle

394
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:57,120
IQ, the Haba construction set,
we do them with the kids, right?

395
00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:00,680
Because I love them one, but
also because.

396
00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:01,800
You mean the kids do them with
you?

397
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,160
But also because it's really
important to scaffold their

398
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,800
learning because the I can do
this takes some time to build

399
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:13,560
that confidence, especially in a
world where the distractions,

400
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:19,640
the hints are so prevalent.
The second is to remember, and

401
00:24:19,640 --> 00:24:22,520
this is one that I really need
to remember, is that the goal is

402
00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:27,920
endurance, not correctness.
So let them try to go down the

403
00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:31,000
rabbit hole, figuring out a word
problem in completely the wrong

404
00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:33,280
direction.
They're never going to

405
00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:34,920
understand the error of their
ways.

406
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:37,400
And I'm talking to myself right
now, but they are never going to

407
00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,960
understand the error of their
ways if they don't figure out

408
00:24:40,960 --> 00:24:44,120
that way and take the path that
they first thought of it's.

409
00:24:44,640 --> 00:24:49,760
So hard to bite your tongue.
Oh my gosh, I'm the worst at it.

410
00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:52,000
I'm like, I disagree, I
disagree.

411
00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,800
And then the third is that short
repeated reps beat grand

412
00:24:56,800 --> 00:24:59,800
gestures.
So I wouldn't suggest sitting

413
00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:03,360
down and reading an entire
chapter book in one sitting as a

414
00:25:03,360 --> 00:25:07,640
family, but breaking it up 1
chapter a night so that

415
00:25:07,640 --> 00:25:12,640
everybody has the time to really
go to bed thinking about what

416
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:17,280
these Dragons looked like or
where the unicorns sleep at

417
00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:20,200
night.
It can cultivate so many of the

418
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,040
things that we're talking about
around deepening our

419
00:25:23,040 --> 00:25:26,560
understanding and allowing
critical thinking to flourish.

420
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:33,920
So if everyone can take one
thing away from today, what do

421
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,800
you think of that one thing is?
So are you saying what's the

422
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:39,520
most important thing about
cognitive patients?

423
00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:43,560
To me, the most important thing
about cognitive patients is

424
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:47,000
recognizing natural
opportunities for it today are

425
00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,640
scarce.
And so we need to set aside

426
00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:57,160
intentional time for it as a
family to build that muscle

427
00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:02,800
because it is such an important
part of learning, of deep

428
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,880
understanding, of critical
thinking and of beauty.

429
00:26:07,680 --> 00:26:10,240
Every child deserves to have a
Eureka moment.

430
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,200
Yeah, that's what I'm taking
with me today.

431
00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:15,360
I like that.
How about you?

432
00:26:15,360 --> 00:26:18,240
It's.
The same thing we've gotten so

433
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:22,400
good at removing friction, that
all of the benefits that

434
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:25,280
friction brings, we're also
throwing out.

435
00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:29,480
And so we have to practice
sitting with friction, sitting

436
00:26:29,480 --> 00:26:34,320
with mental discomfort, because
the other side of it is where

437
00:26:34,320 --> 00:26:38,720
those Eureka moments are.
Yeah, all right.

438
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,040
We are bringing back their
Eureka moments.

439
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:42,880
That's right, one cat crimes at
a time.

440
00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:46,920
One cat crimes at a time.
OK, great.

441
00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,000
Well, thank you everybody for
joining us this week on the Most

442
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,360
important thing.
We would love to hear the ways

443
00:26:53,360 --> 00:26:56,760
that you are bringing cognitive
patience back into your family

444
00:26:56,760 --> 00:26:59,000
life and we'll see you next
time.

445
00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:01,160
Love you, goosey.
Love you, goosey.