100 Questions to Ask Your Parents Before It's Too Late
There's a specific kind of regret that only shows up later: the questions you meant to ask and never did. The stories that lived only in one person's memory. This is a list to make sure that doesn't happen, 100 questions worth asking your parents or grandparents, grouped by the chapters of a life.
Use them however you like: over dinner, on a phone call, or, better, record the answers so you keep them in their real voice. (That's exactly what The Living Mirror is for: record their answers once, then ask them anything, anytime, in their own voice, for years.)
Childhood & growing up
- What's your earliest memory?
- What was your childhood home like?
- Who were you closest to growing up?
- What did you want to be when you grew up?
- What's a smell or sound that takes you straight back to being a kid?
- What kind of trouble did you get into?
- What did a perfect day look like when you were ten?
- Who was your best friend, and whatever happened to them?
- What's something your parents said that you still hear in your head?
- What did your family not have much money for, and how did you feel about it?
Family & roots
- Where did our family come from, as far back as you know?
- What do you remember about your grandparents?
- Is there a family story that's been passed down?
- What traditions did your family keep?
- Who in the family are you most like?
- What's a family recipe you hope nobody forgets?
- What was your mother like? Your father?
- Is there anyone in the family history you wish you'd met?
Love & marriage
- How did you meet?
- What was your first impression, and how wrong was it?
- When did you know?
- What's the secret, if there is one?
- What's the hardest thing you've gotten through together?
- What do you wish younger you had known about love?
- What still makes you laugh together?
Work & purpose
- What was your first job, and what did it pay?
- What work are you proudest of?
- Was there a fork in the road that changed everything?
- Who believed in you when it counted?
- What did you want that you never got, and are you okay with that now?
- If you could do it over, what would you do differently?
Hard times & what got you through
- What's the hardest thing you've lived through?
- Who or what got you through it?
- What were you most afraid of, and did it happen?
- When did you feel most alone, and how did you come out of it?
- What's something you forgave that you never thought you would?
Beliefs, joy & the fun stuff
- What do you believe about how to live a good life?
- What's the most fun you've ever had?
- What's a small pleasure you'd never give up?
- What song can you not sit still to?
- What makes you laugh until you can't breathe?
- What are you better at than people realize?
Advice & the things you'd want us to keep
- What do you want your grandkids to know about you?
- What's the best advice you were ever given?
- What would you tell me on my hardest day?
- What are you most proud of?
- How do you want to be remembered?
- Is there anything you've never told us that you'd want us to know?
That's the short list, pick the ten that make your chest tighten a little, and start there. The point isn't to get through all 100. It's to hear the answers while you still can, and to keep them in a way you can return to.
The easiest way to keep the answers forever
A notebook works. A voice memo works better. But the thing families treasure most is being able to see and hear the person answer, and to ask them something new later. That's what The Living Mirror does: your loved one records their real answers from any phone, and you get an interactive Mirror you can ask anything, anytime, in their own voice and face.