Weekly Challenge #5

Hi Joanna, just wanted to say I loved this idea so much I decided to write about it also. Thank you for the inspiration! Talking with parents is so fun when you’re an adult, you learn so much :)

Here is my post: http://www.idabsolutelyloveto.com/2013/05/do-this-interview-your-parents.html

xoxo,
Kasia

I LOVE this idea and have done it myself :) It’s amazing to keep it all for you and your kids too. There is a list of questions here if you want to use these as a guide: http://www.eightbyfive.com/2013/01/30-questions-for-your-family-scrapbook.html

Oh, I love the Andys!

I really like how your class timings of your blog. I enjoyed reading your blog and it is both instructional and interesting.Thanks!

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Wow. I guess I must have been an overly inquisitive child because I know all of that stuff about my parents already!

I would like my husband to do this with his parents. He doesn’t even know where his father grew up or if his mom has a middle name!

I think this is rockin’ idea. After 35 years of life with my folks and being their only child, I feel like it’s my duty to know every last detail about their history to be able to carry it on, and I certainly don’t know enough. Thanks for encouraging this.
Have a great weekend!

Though my father married my step-mother when I was old enough to know how they met and the details that followed, I really felt the need to know more about his and my mother’s story at the beginning. My mother passed away when I was little and I’ve been collecting their stories ever since. One thing that stands out about their meeting: My mother loved JFK. On the day he was assassinated, my mother was visibly shocked and my father- having just moved into the apartment complex in New York where she had also just moved into the week before- began a conversation with her about the event in the elevator. They fell in love immediately. He proposed to her three months later. I’m told by all family and friends that they were a perfect match. And from my memory of them together, they sure were.

Oh such an important goal! I’ve been interviewing my mother and one of my sisters both formally and informally over the past three years. I have found understanding my mother’s journal essential to understanding myself and my own journey into adulthood/wifehood(sp?)
You learn such interesting things when you get honest!

I spent my childhood dreaming over my Mum’s photo albums of the 8 years her and Dad spent living in Europe. Mum and Dad met on a ship sailing from Melbourne, Australia to London in the 1970s. I grew up asking them all about it and then, a few years ago, wrote their adventures for this awesome book: http://www.amazon.com/My-Parents-Were-Awesome-Minivans/dp/034552392X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1275965542&sr=8-1

I’m so onboard with this challenge! So important to know our family stories!

I love this idea. Having just moved away from my family, this is a great way to stay connected. My mom moved to San Francisco when she was in her early 20’s, stayed for a short time then came back got married had 3 kids in suburbia, divorced and now lives a pretty lonely life. She doesn’t say much about SF, but I can tell there is something there as her gaze softens and I can memories are swarming her. She never traveled again in her life. I want her to share what happened there, and this might be the way to for her to do it. Thanks for this idea.

Katie
http://differentfromimagined.blogspot.co.uk/

Well, I know lots about my parents; they’re old you see, and I’ve known lots about their childhood since they both were kids during WWII, and they talked about it a lot! I know all about my mom’s disastrous relationship with her dad, I know all about how they met, I know all about my dad’s admiration for his parents, what I knew little about was what really happened during the Algerian war from 1960-1962 where my dad fought as a young man. (we’re French)
But lately, he has been talking about it a lot, and it’s not prettty, but I’m glad i know.
I think I know pretty much all there is to know about them, because I’ve been talking so much more about them than about me.
I think this game should be played the other way around, I think my parents don’t know me at all!! They never ask me anything apart from my health and how my kids are, oh well, that’s how they were raised, and I really don’t mind.

Great idea! I love the photos you post of your family. I can’t ever get over how beautiful your mom is, such a natural beauty!

love it! my mom, my brother, and I actually started interviewing my grandmother on video last year just for fun and we got some amazing stories out of her about growing up, dating, getting engaged, and everything that came before she created us! We found that if we asked one question to get her started she would remember a million incredible stories that she could talk about for hours without much prompting :) Plus it will be so special to have the videos of her after she is gone

I love this. And what a wonderful photo of your parents.

For Christmas, I got my dad this book: http://www.amazon.com/My-Dad-His-Story-Words/dp/1932319646/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_0

and will cherish it forever. It’s so wonderful to have so many of his stories written down in this own handwritting and flow of thought, I can never read it with out tearing up.

I’m going to get my Mom this one for Mother’s Day: http://www.amazon.com/My-Mom-Her-Story-Words/dp/1932319638/ref=pd_sim_b_1

great idea. Now…i really need questions b/c I’m pretty sure I would go off tangent talking to my mom. need to stick to script & film it for my kids.

This was one of my new years resolutions! So many people in my family have terrific ‘famous’ stories they tell – I want to capture they way they tell these stories on video so future generations can hear the epic family tales from the legends themselves. Such a fun challenge!

Such a beautiful idea! I am currently going through a book with my dad called: “My Dad: His Stories, His Words” which has been a really wonderful way to get to know so much more about who he was, is and wants to be! The idea of the book is to actually give it to your dad to fill out and give back…but in my case, that poor little book would die a sad, empty death in the back of his closet! :) Plus it’s a great excuse to call once a week and talk. I just found the “My Mom: Her Stories, Her Words” and am excited to start that one too! Blessings!

i’d love to know more about my parents, sometimes, it’s like their these celebrities and i feel like we’re not supposed to ask. but if not us, then who? it’s probably just me being awkward and nervous about nothing:)

I absolutely love this idea. I got my mother a book for Christmas that asked her questions and had prompts, a book for mothers to gift to their children. She has yet to fill it out. So I think I will just interview her and record it so I can transcribe it. My dad has Parkinson’s and his memory is not the best but I am still going to do this with him too!! The sooner the better for both of my parents just to try and learn more about THEM.

Dyan