Tonight with your 9 to 12 year old

The prompt

“What's a game where you just make up the rules as you go along?”

What to listen for

An enthusiastic description shows they enjoy having creative control and flexibility, not just following someone else's structure, that's healthy independence showing up through play.

If they describe playing this with someone else, notice how they negotiate the rules together, that's a real window into how they handle shared control and compromise.

If they say they always play by fixed rules, that's fine too, ask if they'd ever want to try inventing one, which can open up a fun new activity together.

What this tells you

This shows how comfortable they are creating their own structure instead of just following what's already set.