Tonight with your 9 to 12 year old

The prompt

“Can you think of a time being wrong about something actually taught you a lot?”

What to listen for

If they can name the moment and what changed in their thinking afterward, they're building the kind of confidence that isn't afraid of being wrong, that's a much sturdier foundation than always needing to be right.

If they get defensive or insist they're rarely wrong, that might mean being wrong still feels like a threat to who they are; reassure them that being wrong and being smart aren't opposites.

If they say "I don't know," bring up a small recent example, like a wrong guess or assumption, and ask what they'd do differently now.

What this tells you

Their answer reveals whether mistakes feel like useful information to them or like a blow to their identity.