Tonight with your 13 to 17 year old
The prompt
“How do you decide what's okay to share about yourself online versus what you keep private?”
What to listen for
A thoughtful answer shows they're actually developing real judgment about their own digital footprint, that's a skill you want to trust them to keep building, not something to take over for them. Ask with real curiosity, not as a lead-in to a lecture about safety.
If their reasoning sounds solid, tell them so specifically, validating their judgment here builds the exact kind of self-trust that keeps them making good calls when you're not watching.
If they seem unsure or say they don't really think about it much, that's useful to know gently, but resist turning tonight into a full safety talk, a lighter follow-up another time works better than a lecture right now.
What this tells you
How they reason through this shows you how much independent judgment they've already built around their own digital life, and how much they need you to trust that judgment rather than override it.