Tonight with your 13 to 17 year old

The prompt

“What's something you hope is just different about the world by the time you're grown?”

What to listen for

A specific, passionate answer shows you they're already thinking past themselves toward the kind of world they want to help build, that's them needing to feel like their voice and hopes actually count for something. Take it seriously, even if it's a big, hard problem.

If their answer is more personal or small-scale, like people being kinder to each other, that's just as meaningful, don't push them toward bigger or more political territory than where they naturally land.

If they say they don't know, that's completely fine at this age, plenty of teens haven't zoomed out that far yet, and that's not a red flag.

What this tells you

What they hope changes shows you what they already care about deeply, and gives you a clue to what kind of future self they're quietly hoping to become.