Parents, Try This Instead Of Interrogating

24 Aug 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:22

In this short YouTube monologue, Evan Sanchez—founder of New Grad Launchpad—offers parents a simple, non‑interrogative communication technique to help college‑age children who are living at home and seem withdrawn. He advises starting the conversation with an observation phrase that begins with “I’ve noticed…”, providing several concrete examples (e.g., “I’ve noticed you seem a little more withdrawn than usual”). After stating the observation, he recommends giving a “pregnant pause” to let the comment land. If the young adult does not respond, he suggests a gentle follow‑up: “Tell me what’s going on with that for you lately.” The overall goal is to encourage the child to open up without feeling interrogated, fostering honest dialogue. Sanchez invites viewers to follow him for more parenting tips.

Chapters

You know what kills the conversation before it even starts? When you ask your college grad something like, are you okay? What's going on with you right now? So here's a simple 2-word phrase you can use to get them to open up. For those of you who don't know who I am, my name is Evan Sanchez. I am the founder of New Grad Launchpad, and I help parents who have stuck college grads living at home. And here's the phrase I want you to use. It's not a question, it's an observation. You need to start off with the words, I've noticed. I've noticed that you seem a little more withdrawn than usual. I've noticed that your energy seems different. I've noticed that you haven't mentioned your friends in a while. I've noticed you've seemed different from the breakup. I've noticed you've been spending a lot more time alone now. So those are just some phrases that you can use to get them to open up. You're just observing. And that's it. You're not interrogating, you're just stating what you see. And here's what happens. They actually open up. They actually start to tell you why that's happening. So after you make the observation, let it land. Give a nice pregnant pause. But you're asking, but Evan, what do I do if they don't say anything? Then you can just follow up with, tell me what's going on with that for you lately. That's it. It's that simple to get them to open up. For more tips like this, follow me for more.