"I Hear You" at Ulva Kvarn: A Day of Active Listening with Uppsala Families

In short: Today we brought "I Hear You" (Jag hör dig) -a Swedish-made active listening game for families to Ulva Kvarn Höstmarknad outside Uppsala. Dozens of local families sat down, played a few cards, and left having already started an active listening routine with their kids. Below: how the day went, practical tips for turning active listening into a daily family habit, and answers to the questions we were asked most often at the table.

We came with a small table, a few cards, and an invitation: "Want to try something with your kid for two minutes?" That was it. No pressure, no equipment, no long explanation. Just a chance to sit down together in the middle of a busy market day and actually listen to each other.

And family after family said yes.

Spending the day with Uppsala families

What stayed with me most today wasn't any single moment -it was the accumulation of them. Parent after parent sat down next to their child, picked up a card, and for two or three minutes, put everything else aside. We stepped back and let them play it themselves; our job was just to host, not to narrate.

Again and again, we watched the same small thing happen: a child would say something, and a parent would really reflect it back-not just nod along, but genuinely hear it. Sometimes we named it gently in the moment- "did you notice what just happened there?" , and you could see it land. That's the whole product, really. Not the cards themselves, but that moment of being heard.

By the end of the day, dozens of Uppsala families had sat at our table. Some bought the game on the spot to take home tonight. What made us happiest wasn't the sales number-it was hearing so many families say they'd already started, right there at the table, a small routine they wanted to keep going at home. That's the point of all of this: not a single good conversation at a market stall, but a habit that helps families build stronger communication for the years ahead.

How to make active listening a daily family routine: 7 practical tips

Starting is easy -a good conversation can happen anywhere. The harder part is turning it into a routine that survives busy weeks. Here's what we tell families at our table:

1. Anchor it to something that already happens every day. Dinner, the car ride home, or the few minutes before lights-out all work well. A routine needs a fixed slot, not a "we'll get to it eventually."
2. Start with two minutes, not twenty. Families overestimate how much time active listening needs. One card, one question, one honest exchange is enough to build the habit- you can always let it run longer once it feels natural.
3. Put the phones away first. Active listening starts with visible attention. Kids notice a phone on the table before they notice anything you say.
4. Reflect before you respond. Instead of jumping straight to advice or a fix, repeat back what you heard in your own words: "So you felt left out when that happened." That single step is what makes a child feel heard, and it's the skill the whole routine is built around.
5. Let silence do some of the work. Don't rush to fill a pause after you ask a question. Kids often need a few extra seconds to find the real answer, not the quick one.
6. Use a prompt or card as scaffolding, not a script. A simple conversation starter takes the pressure off both sides- nobody has to think of "something to talk about" on a tired Tuesday.
7. Notice it out loud when it works. When your child opens up more than usual, say so: "Thank you for telling me that." Naming the moment reinforces it, for both of you.

None of this requires a special occasion. The families who told us today that they'd already started weren't planning a big weekly ritual -they were planning to try it again tonight, at dinner. That's exactly the right size to start.

Why Ulva Kvarn: presenting a Swedish-made product to a local market

Ulva Kvarn felt like the right place to begin. It's an old mill by the Fyris river outside Uppsala, and its autumn market is the largest craft market in Uppland, around 15,000 visitors over the weekend, nearly all of them there for one reason: self-produced handicraft and local food. Nothing mass-produced, nothing anonymous. Every table has a maker standing behind it who can tell you exactly how their product came to be.

That mattered to us. "I Hear You" is designed and made in Sweden, and a market like Ulva Kvarn is where that actually means something, not as a label, but as a conversation you can have directly with the people who might use it. Presenting a Swedish-made product to a local market, to local families, in a setting built entirely around craftsmanship, felt like the most honest possible introduction.

What comes next

We're back at Ulva Kvarn again tomorrow, and then we carry this same table, and everything we learned today, into Kulturnatten Uppsala on the 12th, where "Jag hör dig" becomes the quiet, slow-down moment at the end of a science journey through our Lemon Lab. The script that worked today, the way we named the "being heard" moment, the close that got families to say yes , we're not reinventing any of it. We're just bringing more Uppsala families into the same simple habit: sit down, play a card, listen. We are exited about road ahead and getting more families onboard.

If today is anything to go by, that habit is exactly what people were looking for.

Frequently asked questions

What is "I Hear You" (Jag hör dig)?

"I Hear You" is a Swedish-made family game built around active listening. Instead of trivia or competition, each card opens a short conversation between parent and child, one person speaks, the other listens, reflects back what they heard, and responds. The goal isn't to win; it's to practice really hearing each other.

What is active listening, and why does it matter for families?

Active listening means fully focusing on what the other person is saying, reflecting it back in your own words, and responding to what they actually meant, rather than half-listening while planning your reply. For families, it's one of the most reliable ways to build trust and keep communication open as kids grow, especially through the years when they naturally start sharing less.

How do I turn active listening into a routine, not a one-off activity?

Attach it to something you already do every day- dinner, bedtime, the drive home- and start with just a couple of minutes. Consistency in a small dose builds the habit faster than a long session you can't repeat. See the practical tips above for the specifics that worked for families at our table today.

What ages is "I Hear You" suitable for?

The game works for any family with kids old enough to hold a short conversation-the cards adjust naturally to the age and mood of whoever's playing, from younger children through teenagers, and parents tell us the conversations just get deeper as kids get older.

Where can I buy "I Hear You" / Jag hör dig?

Right now, you can do it online on our webpage www.sciencemarket.se but the most direct way is at our market table we're at Ulva Kvarn Höstmarknad through the weekend, and at Kulturnatten Uppsala on 12 September. We're also working on retail partnerships with local Uppsala bookstores, and we take names on the spot for anyone who wants to be notified as soon as the game is available beyond events.

Will "I Hear You" be at other events after Ulva Kvarn?

Yes-next up is Kulturnatten Uppsala on 12 September, in the children's and family area at Odinslund, where the game becomes the closing "slow down and connect" moment after our Lemon Lab science activity.

Does an active listening game really change how a family communicates?

It won't happen after one round of cards, but it doesn't need to. What we saw today, over and over, was small: a parent reflecting back what their child said, and the child visibly relaxing because of it. Repeated a few minutes a day, that small moment is exactly what builds stronger, more open communication over time- which is the whole reason we built the game this way instead of as a one-time activity.