Thirty-two honest questions about the world your teenager already lives in.
Download the printable version to work through it in your own time, away from a screen. Same questions, with space to write.
Some questions will make you realise “I actually don't know.” That is useful information too — often the most useful in the whole guide.
Do not turn this into an interview. If you are unsure, notice it and come back to the topic naturally over the next few days — in the car, over dinner, on a walk, after watching something together. You are not checking whether they can produce the right answer. You are checking whether these habits are already part of their ordinary life.
Do you know how to find reliable information online?
If you really needed to know whether this story was true, where would you check?
Then listen. TikTok? Google? ChatGPT? A newspaper? Someone they trust? There is no need to correct them on the spot. First, understand how they currently think.
Tap an answer and the score at the end keeps itself. On paper, tick the circles and add it up at the end.
The subject does not matter. The question is whether they sometimes want to know more without anybody assigning it.
They do not need to follow the news. It is enough that something occasionally makes them think: “Wait — how does that actually work?” How do self-driving cars work? How does Spotify know what to recommend? Why are houses so expensive? How does a new medicine get invented?
“What are you interested in?” is too broad to answer. Try instead:
“What's something you saw online recently that you wanted to understand better?”
Or make it concrete: “You watch a lot of football / gaming / beauty. What part of that world do you actually find interesting?” Then leave it there — it does not have to become a career conversation.
Not only doctor, teacher, lawyer, accountant.
They don't need to know all of these people. The question is simply whether their picture of work is wider than the professions they see every day.
A teenager's sense of what's possible is partly built from the adults they see. If everyone around them works in the same few fields, nothing is wrong — it just means you may need to deliberately show them more worlds.
Knowing the title is not enough. Pick one person they already know and ask three questions: What do you think they actually do? What happens between arriving at work and going home? What do you have to be good at to do that job?
“They stop hackers” → a cybersecurity specialist monitors systems, investigates suspicious activity, tests defences, explains risk to teams, and handles emergencies.
“They draw buildings” → an architect also meets clients, works with engineers, follows regulations, revises plans and manages budgets.
Easy shortcut. Instead of “Can you tell my child about your profession?” ask an adult “Can you tell us what you actually did at work yesterday?”
And even a few hours of the work itself counts: a cooking masterclass, volunteering, helping in a shop, taking photos at an event, packing orders, helping at a school festival, repairing bikes, minding younger children at camp.
Do not wait for a perfect internship. A two-hour masterclass or one afternoon observing someone is enough to create a new reference point. The goal isn't an impressive CV line — it's knowing what real work feels like.
It does not need to be “serious literature”.
Do they browse in shops, download books themselves, ask for a particular title, follow an author or a series, keep reading because they genuinely want to know what happens next?
The question is not whether you have taken them to museums. Would they ask to go, send you an event they noticed, go with friends — and stay interested once there?
Don't conclude that they hate museums. They may not have found their kind of museum yet.
Shortcut: send them three very different options and ask “if we had to pick one this weekend, which?” Their choice is itself information.
The subject is not important. What matters is whether they can think: “I don't know how to do this yet. I'll figure it out.”
Starting with Google, ChatGPT, YouTube or TikTok is fine. The question is what happens next. Do they ever open more than one result, compare two explanations, look for who made the information, check the date, ask whether somebody is selling something, or notice when sources disagree?
Take a real question that comes up naturally — “Someone said energy drinks are terrible for teenagers. How could we check whether that's true?” — then say “show me how you'd look it up,” and watch.
Do they open the first answer and stop? Check several sources? Recognise a hospital, university or major publication? Notice whether it's current? You are not looking for perfect research skills — only the beginning of a habit: one answer is not always enough.
Could they explain why a university, a hospital, a government institution or an established newspaper may need to be treated differently from a random TikTok, an anonymous post, or an influencer advertisement?
They don't need dozens. Even a few is a good start.
Rather than “what are your trusted sources?”, ask: “If ChatGPT and TikTok gave you two different answers, what would you do next?”
“Is this real?” · “Who posted it?” · “Why are they trying to convince me?” · “Is this an ad?” · “Could this video be edited?” · “Who benefits if I believe this?”
Nothing special — eggs, toast, porridge, a sandwich, fruit, tea or coffee.
Pasta, an omelette, a salad, soup, rice, or something simple in the oven.
Sort it, run the machine on a sensible programme, dry it, put it away.
They don't have to know the answer immediately. Can they stop, think, search, ask the right person and act?
Independence is not “they must fix everything themselves.” Knowing when something is unsafe and asking the right person for help is part of it.
Find the stop, understand the route, buy or validate a ticket, notice when they're going the wrong way, and change plans if something goes wrong.
Finding the route, checking the timetable, knowing where to change, buying the right ticket, knowing where to get off.
Find the gate, read the departure screens, understand a delay, ask staff for help, keep track of passport and phone, notice a gate change.
This does not mean sending a 13-year-old travelling alone. It's simply a useful way to picture practical confidence in unfamiliar environments.
Depending on age: calling a hairdresser, booking online, asking about opening hours, contacting a teacher, filling in a simple form, asking customer service a question.
Ask casually: “How much do you think our weekly groceries cost?” You're not testing for the exact number — only whether they have any realistic sense of money.
Managing money means more than having €20 in a wallet. It means having faced the trade-off: “if I spend this today, I'll have less for something else later.” Pocket money that has to last, a holiday budget, saving for headphones, spending money on a school trip, earnings from a summer job.
Could you give them €100 for a month and trust them to decide, within clear rules? Not whether they'd choose what you would — whether they'd understand how much they have, how fast it's going, and what they want to prioritise.
Never tried? Start small. Hand over the budget for one real thing — a month of school lunches, a day trip, birthday gifts for friends. The learning happens in the trade-offs.
The key word is rely. Not “they help when I ask five times,” but “this is theirs, and they know people depend on it.”
Not homework that had to be done — something where they had to keep going after the first excitement wore off. Trained for a race, learned a song, built something, made a video, finished an online course, saved for a purchase, prepared for a competition, held down a part-time job.
Starting is easy. The real signal is having lived through the full arc: enthusiasm → boredom or difficulty → continuing → finishing.
If you don't know, ask: “What have you got noticeably better at this year?” Gaming, sport, drawing or makeup can show persistence just as clearly as school does.
And then tried again, changed approach, asked for help, learned something — or stopped for a good reason.
We're not looking for a teenager who “never gives up”. Sometimes stopping is the smart call. The useful question is whether they can think about why something failed and decide what to do next.
Ask an employee for help, speak to a teacher, order something, call to book an appointment, explain a problem, return something to a shop, ask a question at an event.
Your score stays on this page only — nothing is sent anywhere.
This does not mean your teenager is behind. They may simply have had fewer chances to practise independence or meet unfamiliar environments.
Focus on — ExposureNew places, new people, practical responsibilities, workshops, excursions, different kinds of work. Don't start with “what career do you want?” Start with “what else can we let you experience?”
They already have useful experiences, but may still lean heavily on school, you, or familiar routine to decide what happens next.
Focus on — ExperienceMore chances to decide, travel independently, solve practical problems, research things themselves, meet people with different lives, manage a small budget, own something real.
Useful independence and curiosity are already there. The goal now is not simply to add more activities.
Focus on — DepthTake one project further, build stronger skills, carry more responsibility, see what real work looks like from the inside, finish longer things, sharpen how they handle information.
A strong foundation of curiosity, independence and real experience. The next step is turning it into intentional choices.
Focus on — DirectionWhich interests are worth taking further? Which skills are worth building seriously? Which environments bring out their best? What could they test in the real world before a major decision?
Look back through your answers. Where did NOT YET and I DON'T KNOW cluster? Choose the three areas that deserve attention, then one simple action for each.
Don't buy another course. Visit an unusual place, watch a documentary together, find an exhibition connected to something they already like, or let them choose the next family outing.
Skip the lecture on fake news. Take one interesting story and ask “how could we check whether this is true?” — then compare Google, ChatGPT, social media and an official source together.
Give them ownership of something real: one breakfast each weekend, their own laundry, the groceries from a list, planning one family journey, calling to make one appointment.
Give them a real budget — an outing, a birthday, one month of personal spending. Don't correct every small mistake. A €10 mistake now is a very cheap lesson.
Don't wait for the perfect internship. A masterclass, a company visit, an afternoon shadowing a family friend, a university open day, helping in a café — any of it creates a new reference point.
Don't start with a big project. Ask: “What's one thing you'd like to try for two weeks?” Keep the experiment small enough that starting feels easy.
You do not need to turn every weakness into a lesson.
And you don't need to fix everything at once. Choose one or two areas that would most expand your teenager's world right now. Give them the experience. Watch what happens. Then decide what to explore next.
Even one good new experience can open a new direction.
This assessment shows you where your teenager is today. The harder question is what comes after. Work, education and independent life are changing quickly, and the choices teenagers make now will land in a world shaped by new technology, shifting industries and entirely new ways of working.
In the Map Your Horizon: Future of Work webinar we look at:
Your teenager does not need to have their future figured out. They need enough independence, curiosity and exposure to start making better choices for themselves.
Continue with the webinar →