Parents are often preoccupied with discipline and upbringing and forget something simple but important — talking without an agenda. If children know that every conversation ends in lectures or instructions, they begin to avoid conversation altogether.

The recommendations come from a material by the nationwide mental health programme "How are U?".

Openness works both ways

Psychologists advise creating an atmosphere in which a teenager feels safe, and sharing your own stories — about failures as well as achievements. The more teenagers learn about their parents, the easier it becomes to trust them in return.

Start conversations with topics that interest the child: favourite series, films, books. This helps them relax and stops them treating the conversation as an inspection.

Listen without interrupting

It matters not only to state your own view but to try to see the situation through the teenager's eyes. Psychologists recommend asking open questions and listening attentively, without interrupting or criticising.

Certain phrases are singled out as worth dropping: "I know better", "when I was your age" and other comparisons. They devalue the teenager's experience and drive them away from further conversation more reliably than any outright ban.

The best conversations happen in passing

Talking is easier not at a specially arranged negotiating table but in passing: over breakfast, in the car, on a walk, during ordinary chores. That is where the sense of an impending serious conversation disappears.

Psychologists suggest planning shared family activities — watching a film with a discussion every Saturday, say, or playing board games. Regularity matters more than format: it creates an atmosphere of trust in which the teenager chooses when to raise what matters.