Table Talk

Short, practical essays on getting your family talking — questions that actually work on teenagers, the research behind family stories, and the small daily rituals that outlast big talks.

July 14, 2026

Your kids' grandparents are a library. Check something out.

The people who know your family's best stories won't be around to tell them forever. Ten questions to ask a grandparent this month — and why kids who hear the answers do better.

July 7, 2026

Small family rituals beat big talks

"We need to talk" almost never produces talking. What works instead: tiny, repeated rituals small enough to survive your family's worst week.

June 30, 2026

The "Do You Know?" scale: why kids who know family stories are more resilient

Twenty questions, developed at Emory, that predicted children's resilience better than researchers expected — and what the finding actually means for your dinner table.

June 23, 2026

How to get your teenager to open up (without an interrogation)

Why "how was school?" gets you "fine," and five changes — go first, drop the eye contact, let them write — that get you real answers.

June 16, 2026

25 questions that get teenagers talking (none are "how was school?")

Silly ones, brave ones, heart ones, heritage ones, dream ones — field-tested questions that produce answers longer than one word.