Tonight with your 9 to 12 year old
The prompt
“Is there something you can already picture yourself teaching your own kids someday?”
What to listen for
Whatever they name usually reflects something they're proud of or feel truly shaped by, noticing that they're already picturing themselves as a future teacher of it says a lot about what they value.
Listen for whether it's a skill, a value, or a tradition, skills show what they're proud of, values show what they believe deeply, and traditions show what they want to carry forward from this family.
If they laugh off the question as too far away to think about, that's fine, you can make it smaller by asking what they'd want a little kid to know about life in general.
What this tells you
This reveals what part of themselves or this family they hope to carry forward into the future.