Teen years are extremely hard and for some reason over night they lose trust in us parents ,they become afraid that we will judge them or punish them for their secrets , but what they don't realize is having secrets from us can be dangerous .
Having 5 children and gone through two teens ,now they are nearly in early twenties and now dealing with my third teen atm ,I have picked up on a few things that may help you aswell.
Biggest lesson I have learnt is don't push them , give them opportunities to open up ,especially girls .
I found one on one girl outings helped my girls to start oping up slowly .
we go to the beauty places together , eyebrow wax, nails done ,facials and dress shopping movies etc , this creates the friendship and trust bond . Small talk about what she likes ,your experiences about growing up ,things you went through all mentioned casually (even mistakes we made as teens or the little bad things we did), kind of like an exchange of information . This will help her to see you as a person with experiences not just a mother . When she does confide in you do not show your upset or disappointment, she will just retreat . Give her advice and tell her you love her ,but most of all try to remember what it's like being a teenager ,the hormones, the fear and pressure . At certain times we need to be the mother ,other times the teacher ,and sometimes the friend . Over time your bond will grow and she will let you in more often . It takes time .. I hope this helps you a little .

For boys, I have learned that it helps to have a third point of contact. So, rather than looking him in the eyes, I have him help me with a project or come in the car to go somewhere or have a catch--something where there is another place for our eyes to go. This relaxes him a LOT. I usually don't get anywhere if I just say, "How was your day" or "What's up." But, if I tell him a story at work and then ask for his perspective on it, I almost always hear a story I wouldn't otherwise hear. Plus, that is me modeling how to work through a difficult situation at with someone in authority (i.e., to talk to someone and hear a different perspective to shed light on it and to be thoughtful in how to approach it). I hope that helps!

Yes, I find for both of my girls, the more open I am with them, the more open they are with me. If I want them to get down to the embarrassing, I need to be willing to also.

Some good advice that I'll add too...if it is an uncomfortable conversation try bringing it up while you are driving. As another member pointed out, you will be looking at the road and not locked in direct eye contact. If its small talk you want, try not to ask closed questions that require only one-word, but open statements. For example, instead of how was your day? (mine always says fine or good to this question) say Tell me about your day. OR Tell me something funny that happened today? Hope this helps.

I used to always ask my boys when they were little "tell me 3 things about your day". We'd snuggle on the couch and it worked, before that when I asked "how was your day" I got the standard "good". Now that they're older, I still try to keep the questions either open ended or I ask about something very specific. I also take note of when it's too much, like they're starting to get antsy - then I stop the conversation. The car, as noted above, is a good place to talk.

I am a single father of a 13 year old girl. She doesn't share things with me about what's going on with her. But, she has shown signs of thinking she is homosexual. How can I talk to her and get her to understand the wrong in that? What can I do as a father speaking to a teenage girl?