Tonight with your 9 to 12 year old
The prompt
“What's your favorite memory from a family trip or outing we've taken?”
What to listen for
If they pick a specific small moment rather than the big planned event, that tells you connection often lives in the unplanned parts of a trip, the car ride, the joke, the mistake, more than the itinerary.
If they pick something that went wrong and laugh about it now, that's a sign your family has a healthy relationship with things not going perfectly.
If they say "I don't know," name a trip yourself and ask what part they remember most.
What this tells you
This shows you what actually sticks with them from shared time, which may surprise you compared to what you planned around.