Tonight with your 13 to 17 year old
The prompt
“Do you think people generally deserve a second chance, or does it depend on what they did?”
What to listen for
If they answer with nuance, weighing intent, harm, whether someone's changed, they're building their own moral compass and want it respected as genuinely theirs, not handed down from you.
If they get firm or absolute in either direction, there might be a specific person or situation behind it. Stay curious rather than correcting their stance, even if you'd answer differently.
An "I don't know, depends" is often the most honest answer a teen can give, let it stand without pushing for a cleaner conclusion.
What this tells you
How they reason about second chances reveals what fairness and forgiveness mean to them right now, and where they're still working it out.