I’ve become known around my house as the guy who asks too many questions. To be honest, I think I get a little annoying. One thing I’ve learned is that I need to ask good questions. Our tendency is to talk at, rather than listen to our kids. The bad news is that this approach is a communication killer. Asking good questions serves to open the floodgates of communication by encouraging your kids to express themselves. Asking questions lets your kids know you want to hear what they have to say. Good questions asked at just the right time helps teens think through their actions, process the decisions they’ve made, and consider the resulting consequences. Good questions give kids the opportunity to be treated like an adult, rather than a child. And remember, good questions are differentiated from bad questions because they can’t be answered with only one word or a grunt. Good open-ended questions start with words like “how,” “why,” and “what.”