Homework
What's 17 × 24?
408.
Summarise chapter three.
Chapter three follows Sam to the market, where…
Done in seconds. Nothing learned about deciding.
Thinking practice for ages 5–12
25 questions your child can't Google.
No right answer to memorise. Just your child, a side to defend, and someone who argues back.
- About 10 minutes a go
- Debate Quill or a parent
- 20 in the room, all undecided
No credit card to look around. Cancel any time.
Tonight's debate
Should Leo be punished for breaking a rule that didn't exist yet?
Ada, 8
Quill
Leo can't break a rule that didn't exist yet. Nobody can follow a rule they haven't been told.
Answers are free now. Judgement isn't.
Hand a machine a homework question, then one of ours.
One of our 25
Should Leo be punished for breaking a rule that didn't exist yet?
There are fair points on both sides. It really depends on what you think matters more…
The machine shrugs. Someone still has to pick a side and defend it.
That someone is your child — out loud, against an opponent who pushes back, in front of 20 people who only move for a reason. The homework will be fine. This is the part nobody else is teaching.
Five questions. 25 debates.
The path is not sorted by subject — it is sorted by the kind of decision your child is learning to make. Here is every question in it, in the words they will read.
The Cost
What am I giving up?
Trade-off thinking — the habit of naming what a yes costs before saying it.
What earns a point: Names the thing given up by choosing the other side.
- Buy the toy now, or put the 20 dollars in the jar?
- Should a cup at the stand cost 1 dollar or 3?
- Should the robot write down every answer it works out?
- Plan the whole path first, or always run to the nearest egg?
- Keep fixing the old bike, or buy the second-hand one?
- Ask for 10 and settle for 5, or just ask for 5?
The Rule
Who does this rule hurt?
Fairness by consequence — asking who a rule lands on before cheering for it.
What earns a point: Names someone the rule lands on who isn't in the room.
- Should there be a limit — ten strawberries each?
- Should Leo be punished for breaking a rule that didn't exist yet?
- Should every kid have to pay into the rescue jar?
- Should a robot keep the door, or should a person decide each time?
- Seven want one game and three want another. Do the seven get theirs?
- Keep the sorting robot, or go back to sorting by hand?
The Proof
How do I know?
Evidence and honest doubt — where a claim came from, and when “I'm not sure yet” is the strongest thing to say.
What earns a point: Asks where a claim came from, or says “I'm not sure yet”.
- A friend says the new kid is mean. You have seen otherwise. Do you go to the party?
- Name Leo as the one who did it, or say you're not sure yet?
- Six losses in a row. Do you hand over the money for one more throw?
- Take the sure 2 dollars, or open one of the boxes?
- Every part has been replaced. Which one is your old bike?
The Promise
What did we agree?
Keeping your word — telling what was agreed apart from how it turned out.
What earns a point: Holds what was agreed apart from how it turned out.
- You lent Sam the telescope. Can he charge other kids to look through it?
- Mia is selling copies of your dragon drawing. Does she have to stop?
- The trade turned out badly for you. Does it still count?
The Mirror
Who do I want to be?
Character — the reasons that have nothing to do with winning.
What earns a point: Gives a reason that isn't about winning.
- The hat has three ears and Gran made it. Do you say you love it?
- He has said sorry again. Do you let him build with you?
- Do you keep filling the lucky water bottle?
- Same throw, but only Sam's broke a window. Should he be in more trouble?
- A helmet that gives you every good feeling there is. Do you put it on?
And what they were really arguing about
Each of those questions is a grown-up idea in disguise. The name is kept back until the debate is over — argue it first, learn what it is called second, and it is theirs.
- Opportunity cost
- The tragedy of the commons
- Burden of proof
- Anchoring
- Majority rule and minority rights
- The sunk cost fallacy
- Copyright
- Moral luck
- Expected value
- Risk pooling
- Training-data bias
- The gambler's fallacy
- Binding contracts
- Rules versus discretion
- The placebo effect
- The law of demand
- Consequences versus duty
- The Ship of Theseus
Which story hides which idea is your child's to find out, not ours to spoil.
How a debate goes
About ten minutes, start to reveal.
Pick a question
25 of them, across five worlds, plus anything your child makes up themselves. Each one has two sides worth taking.
Choose a side
Starter lines get the first speech out. After that it is your child's own reasons, spoken or typed.
Argue it out
Up to 12 speeches each, strictly taking turns. The room moves after every one and says what did it.
Find out what it was really about
The debate ends and the concept behind the story is revealed — then read back in your child's own words, so it sticks.
Ten minutes, and then they want to tell you about it
This is the rare screen time that ends in a conversation instead of a negotiation.
Nothing autoplays. Nothing scrolls.
A debate has an ending built into it. No feed, no next episode, no ads, no chat with strangers — the session finishes with an idea and stops.
Something to argue about at dinner
You get the same question your child just spent ten minutes on, and they arrive with a side already picked. Take the other one.
The whole family can sit in
Pass the device to play head to head, or send a link and let grandparents take seats in the audience from their own phones and vote.
Parent mode, not a report card
See which worlds they have finished, how many days in a row, and the ideas they have met by name. No scores to compare against other children.
Simple pricing
One subscription for the whole family. Cancel any time.
Monthly
$2.90/month
for your first month, then $29.90/month
Start monthlyAnnual
$299/year
about $24.92/month, billed once a year
Start annual- All 25 debates, and any question your child makes up
- An AI opponent that argues back
- The audience of 20, and its reasons
- Real people in the seats, from their own phones
- Speak or type; every reply read aloud
- The concept reveal, every time
- Parent mode; whole family, one account
Questions parents ask
What ages is The Debate Arena for?
Ages 5 to 12. The questions are the same for everybody — a five-year-old and a twelve-year-old both have an answer to the last cookie, and the difference between their answers is the point. You set your child's age once, and the opponent and the audience pitch their language to it.
Won't this teach my child to argue with me?
It teaches the opposite of what most parents fear. The audience never moves for volume, repetition or the last word — only for a reason, a new factor, or a fair concession. Children work that out fast, and the arguing at home gets quieter and better aimed.
Is this actually different from a quiz app?
A quiz has an answer key; these questions do not. Nothing here can be memorised or looked up, and nothing is marked right. What is measured is whether your child changed anybody's mind, and why.
Is it safe for my child to talk to an AI?
The opponent only ever argues the story's motion, in plain language, and a separate model checks every exchange. If a child says something that sounds like they need help, the debate pauses gently and nothing is scored. There is no open chat and no other users to meet.
My child is shy, or can't type yet.
Speeches can be spoken instead of typed (Chrome and Edge), and the opponent's replies are read aloud. Starter lines cover the blank-page moment, and the first debate is a short one against a gentle opponent.
Can two children play together?
Yes. Choose a human opponent and pass the device back and forth — the audience judges both of them, parents included. Anyone else can join the audience from their own phone with a link.
What does it cost?
A monthly or an annual subscription for the whole family; the price is on this page. During the beta the first month is discounted, and you can cancel any time.
Ready for the first debate?
Set your child's age, pick a story, and let the room decide.
Start debating