Tonight with your 13 to 17 year old
The prompt
“Is there a value you hold now that came out of something hard you went through?”
What to listen for
If they can connect a value directly to an experience, patience from a tough season, honesty from being lied to, they've made real meaning out of difficulty, which shows resilience and genuine self-understanding.
If the story behind it is still painful to tell, let them go at their own pace and resist filling silences with reassurance too quickly, being fully heard matters more here than being comforted.
A value named without a clear story attached is still worth honoring, not everything needs an origin story to be real.
What this tells you
The value born from a hard experience shows you how they've turned something difficult into a genuine part of who they are.