As children grow into preteens and then teens, life can become increasingly busy. Your teen now has a social network she is involved in outside of yours and probably activities that keep her busy outside the home. For parents who have jobs that include shift work or families that co-parent, our time is so divided it can become challenging to find time to connect as a family.

Many families implement movie nights, game nights, or just simply a family night to come together and reconnect. I know of several families who do not allow cell phones to be used during that time so that everyone is fully present in the moment. Our family found that family nights in combination with simple daily interactions kept our lines of communication open.

Check out these big and small ways to open communication and stay connected to your child.

• Car rides. One of my favorite times to check in with my kids was when I had them alone in the car. It was often easier to have those hard talks in what felt like a safe space. In a family of five in a smaller home, it can feel like there is no privacy, so car rides offered us a privacy we could not get at home. It also led to some of my favorite memories singing loud in the car, embarrassing kids with my dancing, Chinese fire drills (it was in front of our house so nothing dangerous), and laughter.

• The Daily Snap (or daily dad joke). When my daughter went away to college, we started sending a snap every morning on Snapchat. Just a simple good morning, note to say hi, and sometimes even just a highlight from our morning. My husband started texting her a daily dad joke, now they both send them back and forth.

The easiest way to ensure that everyone is home is to reserve one night of the week for family time. Ours was Friday because it worked well for our schedules and we were ready for some week’s-end time at home. Now that the kids are out of the house, Sundays have become our reconnect day.

• Movie nights. Break out the popcorn and candy, grab blankets, pillows and settle in for a family movie night in your own home. Thanks to an abundance of streaming platforms, it’s easy to find family-friendly new releases almost weekly. Order pizza, make nachos, hot dogs, root beer floats, and whatever else you can think of. Movie nights are still one of the things my adult children say they really enjoyed about their childhood.

• Game nights. There are so many great games out there (often at your library), you should be able to find several that everyone wants to play. If you have some true game fans you can even set up D&D campaigns. Pair game night with an assortment of finger foods — think sliders, sandwiches, mini tacos or charcuterie boards.

• Family dinners. I love a Sunday family meal, be it brunch, lunch or dinner. A time to gather and enjoy being together. It is a wonderful chance to prepare food together, interacting as a group and on an individual level. This is one of those rituals that can grow with your family as they start families of their own.

• Video chats. As your teens begin to leave home, keeping siblings connected can be a challenge. A weekly family video call is a good way for them to catch up and feel included in family updates. It also establishes a routine within the family of checking in that can often be an important source of support as those college students graduate and become busy adults.

• Stargazing. I can clearly remember my husband and I laying in our front yard with three kids watching for some event in the sky. I do not even remember what we were looking for, but I do remember it was very late and the smell of the grass, the little giggles from my daughter, my boys whispering back and forth and a sense of peace as we all laid there. Get a telescope out, watch for events like meteor showers or comets and make a plan to stargaze.

Many of us will have that one teen who would rather not be subjected to an evening with the family. I have seen that play out and those are exactly the ones who need it the most, that reassurance that they can have their tough exterior and that you will just keep loving and including them anyway. Finding quality time to connect and communicate with your teens does not have to be a big event, it can be found in the simplest of moments where a conversation starts on the drive home and ends with you sitting in the driveway just listening for however long they need. What matters is that they know they have the option of opening up to you in a way that feels right for them.