October may be home to Halloween, but it’s also Let’s Talk Month, a month dedicated to open communication between young people and their parents or caregivers. This campaign encourages discussion about dating, sex and relationships. Conversations like these shouldn’t be scary or stressful! It’s important to make sure you’re on the same page to avoid confusion and anxiety. After all, establishing communication is key to strengthening any type of relationship, whether it’s between a parent and teen or two partners. For example, inspired by Let’s Talk Month, my girlfriend and I decided to make an open communication policy!

Before we created the policy, whenever we got into a fight or were feeling nervous, we would just stop talking. We’d become strangers, avoiding eye contact and direct conversation. Everyone (not just us, but also our friends) would feel awkward and uncomfortable. Sure, they would try figuring out what was wrong, but all efforts were futile. Only we could fix our silence. Eventually, we admitted to ourselves that the quiet was harming our relationship and needed to stop.

Because of this, we set up a rule. To start, someone says, “Open communication time?” whether it’s the person who wants to talk or the partner who believes something is up. If the other responds with, “Ding, ding, ding!” both partners know it’s OK to talk about it. Since then, awkward silence hasn’t been a problem. We’re now a communicative couple that isn’t afraid to share anything.

So this October, try to find time between homework and crafting your Halloween costume to set up a communication guide that helps both you and a loved one!