Aim. There are no societies in which taboos are not present. So the family, functioning in social reality, is unable to protect itself from their presence. Early adolescence is a special time when the child is interested in the outside world. Taboo, as a “forbidden fruit”, fascinates, intrigues, frustrates. Adolescents feel the need to talk about diffi cult topics, but are not particularly good at initiating dialogue, perhaps they don’t have the courage for it either. They need knowledge to stop being afraid of unknown elements of reality and to go beyond myths and stereotypes. The purpose of the article is to illustrate the taboo issues in Polish families with teenage offspring. Materials and methods. The survey included 60 parents of seventh-grade students who agreed to participate in the study during class meetings. A diagnostic survey was conducted in May 2022 in the Wroclaw area. Data on the issues in question were obtained by means of the author’s questionnaire. Results and conclusions. Based on the analysis, the following factors were identifi ed: communication competence, willingness to talk about taboo topics, and the ability to talk about these topics. It was shown that a high assessment of a parent’s own communication skills signifi cantly correlates with the declared ability to conduct conversations on taboo topics and with the willingness to conduct such conversations, but no correlation was detected between the above factors and the parent’s initiation of conversations. On the other hand, there is a statistically signifi cant correlation between the parent’s communication competence and the child’s initiation of conversations on taboo topics.