The Code Word Map
Free · print at home
One word instead of an explanation.
The hard part of a bad moment is explaining it while you are in it. By the time either of you can say what is wrong, you are usually past the point where saying it would have helped. So you snap, or you go quiet, and the other person guesses — usually wrong.
A code word does the explaining instead. The word carries the protocol: everybody already knows what happens next, and nobody has to interpret anything. You agree them on a good day, because a word invented mid-argument is just a word.
What you get
A two-page A4 PDF, sent straight to your inbox.
- The five signals — the tunnel, the redline, the battery, the recovery and the response, each with what it means, what happens next, and a blank for your household's own word.
- The children's half — deliberately empty, because the whole point is that the words get chosen together. With the reply, the handshake, and the one rule that stops it being a punishment.
- Prints perfectly well in black and white, and it is meant to go on the fridge rather than in a drawer.
Where shall I send it?
It arrives within a minute or two. After that it is about one email a fortnight when something new goes up, and you can leave whenever you like.
Why this one is free
It is one page out of The ADHD Operating System, and it is the page people ask about most. It seemed daft to keep the one that helps first behind the till. If it works in your house, the rest of the system is £18.