Last year she was a witch. This year she’s fourteen, and when you mention costumes she says, “Mom. I’m not doing that anymore.” The bin of Halloween stuff stays in the garage. On the night itself she’s in her room with the door shut, and the doorbell rings for everyone’s kids but yours. Nothing is…
You open the notebook. You pick up the pen. And then nothing. The page is blank, your head is full, and somehow those two things don’t connect. That’s what these journal prompts for teens are for. Instead of one long list, they’re sorted by how you feel today, so you can skip straight to the…
It’s Friday night and she’s home again. Phone face down on the couch, a show she’s not really watching. You ask, as lightly as you can manage, whether anyone’s doing anything this weekend. “I don’t know. It’s fine. I don’t care.” She cares. You both know it. If you’ve been lying awake wondering how to…
She’s fifteen, and the gift list you asked for says “idk.” Or it says “money.” Or it names one hoodie that costs more than your winter coat. So you’re standing in a store aisle holding a candle and a pair of fuzzy socks, wondering if either of them says anything at all. Most lists of…
When you ask your daughter how was her school? She says “fine.” You ask what she did. “Nothing.” And that’s the conversation, over before it started, again. If you’ve heard “fine” enough times this week to go looking for better questions to ask your teenage daughter, this list is for you. I’ve sorted it by…