Tonight with your 13 to 17 year old
The prompt
“If you could just download a new skill or language into your brain right now, no effort required, what would you pick?”
What to listen for
Whatever they choose says something about what kind of competence they wish they had more of, and naming it out loud, even as a fantasy, means they trust you not to turn it into a to-do list.
If they pick something surprising or unrelated to school and activities, that's a window into an interest they haven't had space to explore yet, worth just noticing, not immediately signing them up for lessons.
A joking answer like "how to do nothing and get paid" is still real information about what feels missing or exhausting in their life right now.
What this tells you
The skill they wish for reveals what kind of person they're hoping to grow into, and whether they feel like becoming that person is within reach.