Tonight with your 13 to 17 year old
The prompt
“What makes it hard to just say "yeah, that was on me" when you know you messed up?”
What to listen for
If they mention fear of a big reaction, disappointment, or losing face, that tells you admitting fault feels risky to their sense of being okay in your eyes, they need to know a mistake won't cost them your respect.
If they say it's more about their own pride or hating to feel wrong, that's about their internal standards, not about you, and it's worth quietly admiring that self-awareness rather than correcting it.
A shrugged-off "I don't know, it's just annoying" is fine to leave alone, the fact that they're willing to name it as hard at all is already something.
What this tells you
What makes owning a mistake difficult for them reveals whether they feel safe enough with you to be imperfect out loud.