Tiny rubber ducks are actually dirt cheap from china. Keep a few in your pocket/desk, and hand them out when it happens.

When working on complex tasks, it’s easy to get sucked into it and not see the wood for the trees. One of the best solutions is to talk it through with someone. Often, as you are explaining it, you will realise that it’s not doing what you just said, but something different. You also sometimes realise that your solid logic is far less logical than it seemed, inside your own head.

Critically, none of these actually require the knowledge or interaction of the person you are talking to. Rather than explaining it to a colleague, and wasting their time, some people use an inanimate object. A rubber duck has become a common method. It’s small, easy to source, and can sit on top of a monitor etc, with a face to talk too. Other personified toys also work just as well, as do pets, babies, or life partners etc.

Basically, it’s a method of breaking a bad cycle, by getting out of your own head, and so realise where you keep f*****g up.

The awkward yeti books are tempting, though expensive. We’ve actually got 3 prints from The Awkward Yeti on our walls. Apparently I’m the heart, mummy is the brain, and she is the butterfly.

Bae Wolf is a rewriting of Beowulf, written by Zach Weinersmith, author or SMBC. It’s done for children, but in a modernised version of the original writing style (epic poem/sage, using modern language). It’s 208 pages, and aimed at the preteen+ age range.

She’s actually just about to start school. She loves reading (or rather being read too!) and is a complete infovore, with the intelligence and vocabulary to match. She’s not quite reading yet, but not far off.

I’m trying to decide if “Bae Wolf” is too advanced still, or whether to give it a go.

I’ve got the quantum physics for babies book, for my daughter. It was actually impressive how far they simplified it, without loosing the essence. My daughter also loved the simple, colourful pictures.