The P.S. trick at bedtime

The letters always end in the same place: a P.S., and a choice. Does the crew land on the bright side of the moon or the dark side? Does the hero follow the deer, or wait for morning? Whatever your child decides, the next letter is written to it.

That small question at the bottom of the page turns out to be one of the most useful things in the whole envelope, and families have found ways of making the most of it. Here are the ones that have been passed on to us, with a few of our own from home.

Stop at the P.S.

The simplest trick of all. Read the letter together, and when you reach the P.S., close it. Don’t decide tonight. Let them sleep on it.

Most children have a strong opinion by breakfast and a completely different one by teatime, and listening to them argue it out with themselves is half the fun. A choice made at once is a guess. A choice slept on is a decision, and a child who has made a decision cares how it turns out.

Ask them why

Hidden inside every choice is a small essay question. “Why the deer?” gets you a whole theory of the story so far: what they think the deer wants, who they trust, and what they are worried about on the other road.

This is comprehension, the very thing reading schemes test for, arriving by itself because the question was theirs. You do not need to say so. Just ask, and listen, and ask once more if the answer is “because”.

Keep both roads in sight

Try writing the two choices on a scrap of paper and sticking it to the fridge, with a line down the middle. Over the days that follow, reasons can be added to each side: “the cave is dry”, “the river has a boat”, “the bird looked shifty”. By the time the choice is sent, the fridge will hold a small argument in your child’s handwriting.

It also means that the choice does not disappear between bedtimes. It is there at breakfast, at teatime, on the way out of the door, which is exactly where you want the story to be.

Let the family vote

If a grandparent or a cousin is in the story, let them have a vote too. Ring them up. The child usually overrules everyone, which is also the point. In our own test stories, a father who was written into the crew as the ship’s engineer was consulted on every single choice and ignored on most.

A vote is also a lovely excuse for a phone call that is not about school or the weather. A grandmother asked “should we trust the stranger?” has rather more to say than one asked “how are you?”

Keep your own vote quiet

It is tempting to steer, especially when one road looks safer. Try not to. If the choice is really theirs, they will own whatever comes next, including the bits that go wrong. If they can tell you picked it, the story becomes yours, and the letters lose a little of their pull.

Offer an opinion if you are asked for one. Then let them overrule you, with good grace.

Tell us before the next letter

When they have decided, tell us from your account at story.journee.club, where each letter shows its choice and a button for each road. We do not write the next letter until we have it.

If you forget, we send an email a few days before the next one is due as a nudge. And if nothing comes, the story gives them a little more time rather than choosing for them. A road is never picked on your child’s behalf.

Read the old P.S. first

When the next letter lands, it is worth reading out the last P.S. again before you open the new one. “Last time, you sent her into the cave.” It reminds everyone what was at stake, and it makes the moment the new letter answers it all the sweeter. A child who hears their own choice come back to them in the story knows, in a way no one has to explain, that it mattered.

If they cannot decide

That happens. Our advice is to pick the one that scares them a bit. The letter will not punish them for it, and the next chapter is always written so that the road they took was the interesting one.

Why we end every letter this way

A story read to a child is something they receive. A story that asks them a question is something they take part in. We built Journee around that question because it is the difference between a chapter that ends at the bottom of the page and a chapter that carries on all week, at the table, in the car and in the dark at bedtime, until the next envelope comes.