How about a question about their relationship to their grandparents or a story about a childhood relative that influenced them?

I just googled - questions to ask your parents for memories and quite a few ideas came up. One thing I wish I would have asked both my parents and grandparents is, to tell us their favorite/funny memories of their childhood. I wish i would have done this years ago.

It is a wonderful idea.

Thanks Hhireno, we've hit those both. The last one for my mom was "When did you feel like a grown up for the very first time?" She gave a great response on boarding a boat in NY Harbor as she embarked on her tour of Europe as a newly-minted college grad.

Please keep the ideas coming!

What about something like: what changes would you most like to see in the world for the future of your grandchildren and their children?

or What about your life is the most different from how you ever imagined it would be?

Can you think of family heirlooms? Ask them the story behind those items. My mom has things that I wonder about and with her dementia, she can no longer tell me.

I do wish I knew more about my parents' memories of their parents and their grandparents. I never talked to them much about their experiences in school or what they did in their summer months when they were off school. I also never talked to them much about difficult things such as how they grieved the loss of their own parents or how they feel about aging. I also never talked to them about the trouble they got into when they were kids...how they spent their summer vacation... I do remember Mom talking about her first car, but not Dad. It was hard to get war stories out of my Dad but he did tell a few doozies when I could. Also you might ask about memories they have of you kids when you were too young to remember.

Also, while you can, do go through old family pics and label them ... I can't tell you how many we have full of unidentified people and have no one left to ask who they are...

Great ideas! My dad refuses to do any deep dives on his stories and tends to gloss over any challenging times. He is a perpetual optimist so it is hardly surprising. For example, his mom was a complete narcissist who made his life tough, to say the least. When asked about his relationship with her, he went on to say how she was incredibly loving and kind. Mom, on the other hand, peels the onion every week. Her stories are real and poignant. Dad's question this week asks about what it has meant to him to be part of a fraternity. Mom's asks about favorite childhood memory.

I would want to hear more about what they recall about their parents, siblings, grandparents, etc if I was running out of questions for them personally. I’d also want to know about challenges or difficulties they experienced and how they dealt with them. And maybe what historical events/times most stand out in their memory?

I met a few of my Mother’s best friends from her high school days and a couple from my Dad’s college days. I would ask them about their growing-up friends and what they did together. My mother didnt go to college, but she went to a ’business college’ in Nashville and stayed in an apartment that was near the Grand ole Opry. She used to tell us about looking out their window as the Opry singers went in the back entrance.

What about their memories about when their kids were born and their first year as babies?

I would be a better listener about my Dad’s Navy experiences. He never talked much about it, and i wish he had.

I am adding ideas from all of you--thanks!

I love asking my parents the same question and seeing the very different takes. I've already asked about each's siblings, parents, grandparents, travel experiences, places each has lived, etc. This week's question for both is "If you could live one day in your life all over again, which day would you choose, and why?"

Next week I'll be asking about my dad's fraternity days, and for my mom, I want to hear how her sense of fashion has changed over the years (spoiler alert--she is a snazzy dresser with a taste for french fashion.)

What was the happiest time of your life? Tell me about it...

What was the most challenging time of your life? Can you share more about that?

What surprised you about becoming a parent?

What surprised you about marriage?

I do like to ask about things my mom and her sisters did as kids - the games they played, favorite foods and activities, birthdays, holiday celebrations, etc..

When my parents were alive I did ask them many questions that pertain to their life experiences, about things they liked, didn't like etc. So I know much about my mother's 10 siblings, and my Dad's one sibling. I know where they met each other and what they both found most attractive about the other. I know how they both felt, being children during WWII.

I asked if my mother liked being the youngest child and if my father liked being the oldest. I asked if my mother had ever wanted a different career than being a legal secretary who became a paralegal. She said she'd been asked to join the Ice Capades, but she wanted to marry and have kids and not travel on tours, so she turned it down.

I asked if my Dad had always wanted to be a police officer. and he told me he his dream career would have been to be a pilot, but back then one had to have 20/20 uncorrected vision.

I asked about their childhood pets, friends and teachers. I asked if their parents had ever been strict when they were young, as we only knew them as softhearted doting grandparents.

I asked if they ever made a decision they really regretted. They both said they wished they'd tried for a final 6th child, to 'even things up' since they had 3 girls and 2 boys, lol. I asked if they'd ever lost a friend or family member in childhood, and it turned out they both lost someone to drowning. My Dad lost a childhood friend one winter, who was skating on a lake and fell through the ice. My mother lost an older brother one summer as a child. He'd been a good swimmer, but got pulled into an undertow.

So I had gotten answers for some more serious or thought provoking questions. But I'd forgotten to ask some very basic questions, which although not something you'd need to pass down, just would have been fun or interesting to know. Things like what would be the menu of their favourite meal, what was their favourite colour, book, cologne, movie, flower, activity etc. I think I might know many of those answers, just from observations while growing up, but I wish I'd asked, just to know if they would have totally surprised me with some answers.

Great questions/suggestions. Glad someone mentioned pets. Both of my parents were raised with horse, as we were, and rode into their 70s.

Have you asked if they had hobbies they loved, but gave up?

Religious related memories?

Did either enjoy gardening?

Favorite black and white TV show? What did they think about color TV when ti came about?

Music questions - what did they think about Elvis? The Beatles? First song they played over and over again?

State Fair memories?

Was your Dad in Boy Scouts? Did he ever build a soap box derby car?

Favorite museum? Public library? Garden?

Favorite recipe or meal? Favorite dessert?

This is a fantastic idea...thanks for alerting me to this, Jojoco.

Maybe ask about their neighbors growing up...that seemed to trigger a lot of memories for my Mom & Dad..

Annie, so funny you should say that. My mother constantly talks about the neighbors in our first two houses. Despite her dementia, those memories really stick in her brain.

What a wonderful idea and project!!! What about asking them to describe a typical day growing up? The minutiae of it. I imagine it would contrast fairly with today's? Technology (especially the Internet) has affected the flow of days for many. How did they fill their free time, if any? Were they ever bored or lonely as a kid, teen, young adult, etc.? How did they deal with those feelings? Today, social media seems such a strong "void filler".