This is a great post. I am a mom of teen girls and you know how surly and moody they can get ;)

I found that listening to the times that they do talk goes a long way to communicating openly with them. The generic "how's your day" or "what's going on" will usually get the usual "nothin'" but if you've been listening and can ask specific questions like "what ever happened to the thing your friend was going to do?" will more likely start a conversation.