Tonight with your 9 to 12 year old

The prompt

“Have you ever gone out of your way to be fair to someone you don't really like very much?”

What to listen for

If they can describe a real moment of choosing fairness over personal feelings, that's a strong sign their sense of justice is becoming bigger than just "be nice to people I like", name that as a real strength.

If they admit they treat people they dislike worse, don't scold, ask what that person did to earn the dislike, since the reasoning matters more than the admission.

If they say "I don't know," ask about a specific classmate they don't get along with and how they'd handle working on a project together.

What this tells you

Their answer shows how far their sense of fairness reaches, especially toward people they don't naturally warm to.