Mend it when it breaks

Exchanges go wrong all the time: you misread a move, they turn away, someone gets cross. Research on parents and babies, including Edward Tronick’s still-face studies, suggests that mismatches are ordinary and frequent, and that coming back together after one is the part that matters.

So a broken circle is not a failure. Notice it, soften, and offer a small opening of your own. The mend is a skill you can practise like any other.