Tonight with your 5 to 8 year old
The prompt
“What's something about our family that feels different from your friends' families?”
What to listen for
If they name something warm and specific (a tradition, an inside joke, how you say goodnight), they're feeling a real sense of belonging to something special. Celebrate it with them.
If they compare in a way that sounds like they're missing something ('they get to stay up later'), that's useful, it's normal comparison, not a complaint about you.
A shrug just might mean they haven't thought about other families much yet, which is completely normal.
What this tells you
What they notice as different shows you what makes them feel proud, or occasionally unsure, about belonging to this family.