Questions to ask your grandparents
Big questions get short answers. Small ones, about a street or a first job, get stories. Pick one, ask it, and then let them talk.
The house
- Walk me through the front door of the house you grew up in. What do you see?
- What was the view from your bedroom window growing up?
- What sounds do you miss from the house you grew up in?
- Who slept where, and who shared a bed?
- What was the one thing in the house nobody was allowed to touch?
- What did your neighborhood look like when you were ten?
The table
- What did your family’s kitchen smell like on a regular weeknight?
- What’s a meal someone made for you that you can still taste?
- Who cooked, and who was allowed to help?
- What did your family eat when there wasn’t much money?
- What was always on the table at a holiday?
Your parents
- What’s a story about your parents that nobody ever talks about?
- What’s a rule your parents had that seemed unfair then but makes sense now?
- How did your parents meet? How do you know?
- What did your father do when he came home from work?
- What did your mother sing or hum?
- What’s something about the way you were raised that you decided to do differently?
Growing up
- What song takes you right back to being a teenager?
- What’s something people would be surprised to learn about your younger self?
- What happened on the day you left home for the first time?
- Who was your best friend when you were twelve, and what did you do all day?
- What got you in the most trouble?
Work and love
- What did you learn from a job you hated?
- What was your first job, and what did you buy with the first pay?
- How did you meet Grandma or Grandpa? What was the real version, not the party one?
- Where was your first home together? What was in it?
- What did you worry about most when your kids were small?
The people who came before
- What did your grandmother’s hands look like?
- What’s a story about your grandfather that you find yourself telling people?
- What do you know about your parents’ lives before they had a family?
- What was the bravest thing you ever saw someone in this family do?
- Where does our family name come from? Who told you?
Looking back
- What was the hardest decision you ever had to make for this family?
- What’s a mistake you made as a parent or grandparent that taught you something?
- What do you want your grandchildren to know about where this family came from?
- How would you like to be remembered?
How to record the answers on any phone
Eternity is an iPhone app that keeps these recordings together, with one star for each person in your family. It is coming soon. Join the waitlist