THE QUESTION BANKS · 30 QUESTIONS
Time-capsule questions for a child
For parents and grandparents interviewing a child — answers kept for the adult they'll become.
Thirty questions to ask a child right now, while seven is still seven. The answers seem ordinary today; read at twenty-seven, they are a letter from a self no photograph can bring back.
USING THIS WELL
Record the voice, not just the words — the answers are wonderful but the small voice saying them is the treasure. Ask a handful at a time, take every answer with complete seriousness (including the ones about dinosaur astronauts), and date everything. Asking the same questions again every year or two turns this from a snapshot into a time-lapse.
Right now favorites
- What's your favorite thing to eat, and who makes it best?
- What do you love doing so much that you forget what time it is?
- What's your favorite thing you own — and where does it sleep?
- What song, show, or game do you love the most right now?
- What would you do every single day forever if you were allowed?
- What makes you laugh harder than anything?
Your world
- Tell me about your best friend. How did you two become friends?
- What's your room like? What's on the walls?
- What do you do after school on a normal day?
- Who's the funniest person you know, and what do they do that's so funny?
- What are you really good at that grown-ups don't know about?
- What's the best place you've ever been?
Big feelings
- What was the best day of your whole life so far?
- What are you a little bit scared of right now?
- What do you do to feel better when you're sad?
- What's the maddest you've ever been? What happened?
- Tell me about something brave you did.
- What do you wish grown-ups understood about being a kid?
Imagine the future
- What do you want to be when you grow up — and what else, in case that one's full?
- What kind of house will you live in when you're big?
- What will you let your kids do that you're not allowed to do?
- What do you think the world will be like when you're as old as your grandparents?
- What do you want to say to grown-up you, reading this someday?
- What do you hope never, ever changes?
Family through your eyes
- What does your mom or dad always say? Say it the way they say it.
- What's your favorite thing our family does together?
- What's the story somebody in our family tells over and over?
- Who in our family gives the best hugs?
- What smells like home to you?
- If somebody new joined our family, what would you tell them so they'd understand us?
When the answers start coming: record the voice, not just the words — and give the stories a permanent, private home, free.