The Closed Door

Parenting teenagers without losing them or yourself

Marcus Oyelaran2 episodes2 min of audio32 playsEpisodic

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S1 · E2Oct 6, 20261:055 plays Preview

Three teenagers, three phones, no parents in the room

Marcus sits down with three students aged 14 to 17 who agreed to talk honestly about their phones, group chats, what they hide, what they wish their parents would stop doing, and what they secretly wa…

S1 · E1Dec 27, 20250:5727 plays Members

Fine. Nothing. Okay.

Marcus looks at the one-word answers that replace conversation around age 13, why they are not rejection, and the small changes to timing and place that get teenagers talking again.

About the show

The Closed Door is a fortnightly show about raising teenagers, hosted by Marcus Oyelaran, a secondary school counsellor in Toronto and father of a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old. Each 40-minute episode is built around one of the moments parents of teens recognise: the monosyllabic dinner, the phone that never leaves their hand, the first party, the bad grade they hid, the friend you do not like, the question about drugs or sex you were not ready for. Marcus brings in what he sees in school every day, interviews psychologists and youth workers, and regularly hands the microphone to teenagers themselves, who explain what they wish their parents understood. The show is honest about the limits of control and the importance of staying in the room. It is for parents who feel their child slipping behind a closed door and want to knock in a way that gets answered. Warm, practical, and never preachy.

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