It's a question. A single question.

It's not this: What was your best experience in lockdown?

It's not this: What was your worst experience during lockdown?

Nor is it any of these: What have you lost, gained, what's changed? What are your challenges, threats, opportunities, hopes, fears? What did you do, feel, think, say?

No, the 12-word recovery curriculum question is this:

Which of those questions do you least want to answer and why?

Try it. You'll find that children and adults alike begin to talk about what's most important to them. It's a respectful route to a meaningful conversation.

By all means buy the catch-up and recovery resources; design them yourself; attend the training; write the curriculum; ask the experts; address the emotional and intellectual catch up.

But at the end of the day, however you do this, it'll depend on your relationships; on your ability to let your children tell their stories; on your willingness to empathise with them, and on your capacity to authentically hear them as they speak.

Start with the 12-word question and take it from there.