100 questions to ask your grandma
before her stories are lost

🌱

Her childhood

• ◦What is your very first memory?
• ◦What was your home like as a child?
• ◦What did you do for fun?
• ◦Did your family have much money?
• ◦What was your mum like?
• ◦What did you eat for dinner as a child?
• ◦What was school like for you?
• ◦What parts of childhood were you happiest?
• ◦What were you frightened of as a girl?
• ◦What did your father do, and what was he like?

📻

Growing up through history

• ◦What big world events do you remember from your childhood?
• ◦Did the war affect your family?
• ◦What was life like before television?
• ◦What did you make do without that people have today?
• ◦What was the biggest change you saw in your lifetime?
• ◦What do you miss about the world you grew up in?
• ◦How did you get your news before the internet?
• ◦What do you think young people today take for granted?
• ◦What was the first thing you owned that felt like a luxury?
• ◦When did your house first get a telephone, a fridge, a car?

❤️

Love and marriage

• ◦How did you meet Grandad?
• ◦What was your first impression of him?
• ◦When did you know he was the one?
• ◦What did getting married feel like?
• ◦What made your marriage last?
• ◦What do you miss most about him?
• ◦What would you tell a young couple today?
• ◦What's the most romantic thing he ever did?
• ◦What did you argue about?
• ◦What did you learn about love that nobody tells you?

👩‍👧

Being a mother and grandmother

• ◦What was it like to have children?
• ◦What were you most worried about as a mother?
• ◦What's your proudest parenting moment?
• ◦What do you wish you'd done differently?
• ◦What does being a grandmother mean to you?
• ◦What do you hope your grandchildren remember about you?
• ◦What values did you most want to pass on?
• ◦What's your favourite memory of your children growing up?
• ◦What was the hardest part of raising a family?
• ◦What did you do that your own mother would never have done?

🍳

Everyday life and traditions

• ◦What did a typical day look like for you?
• ◦What did you cook that the family loved most?
• ◦What traditions did you keep in your home?
• ◦What do you do that your mother used to do?
• ◦What did Christmas look like in your house?
• ◦What did Sunday afternoons feel like?
• ◦What's a recipe you want to make sure isn't lost?
• ◦What small things made life feel good?
• ◦What was always in your handbag?
• ◦What did the house smell like on a Sunday?

🤍

Wisdom and legacy

• ◦What are you most grateful for in your life?
• ◦What's the hardest thing you've been through?
• ◦What helped you get through difficult times?
• ◦What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you were young?
• ◦What are you most proud of?
• ◦What do you want your grandchildren to know about you?
• ◦What message would you leave for the next generation?
• ◦What has your life taught you about what really matters?
• ◦What do you want to be remembered for?
• ◦Is there anything you have never said that you would like to say now?

🏘️

Her world and her neighbours

• ◦What was the street you grew up on like?
• ◦Who were the neighbours, and did everyone know each other?
• ◦Where did you go to buy food, and what was that like?
• ◦What did people do for entertainment before television?
• ◦What was your village or town known for?
• ◦Who was the character everyone talked about?
• ◦What has changed most about where you grew up?
• ◦Did people leave their doors unlocked?
• ◦What did a day out look like when you were young?
• ◦What do you miss about how people lived then?

💼

Work and what she did

• ◦What was your first job?
• ◦How much were you paid, and what did you do with it?
• ◦Did you keep working after you had children?
• ◦What work were you proudest of?
• ◦Was there something you wanted to do and were not allowed?
• ◦What was it like being a woman at work back then?
• ◦Who did you work with that you never forgot?
• ◦What did you learn from working that stayed with you?
• ◦Did you ever run anything, or look after the money?
• ◦What would you have done if you could have done anything?

👗

Being young

• ◦What did you and your friends wear?
• ◦Where did you go dancing?
• ◦What music did you love as a girl?
• ◦Who was your first love?
• ◦How did you do your hair?
• ◦What did your parents not know about?
• ◦What did you save up for?
• ◦Who was your best friend, and what happened to her?
• ◦What did Saturday night look like?
• ◦What were you like at that age — would I recognise you?

💪

Hard times

• ◦What is the hardest thing you have lived through?
• ◦How did you cope when things were difficult?
• ◦Who did you lean on?
• ◦Is there a loss you have never really got over?
• ◦What did you have to go without?
• ◦Was there a time you were truly frightened?
• ◦What did you keep to yourself to protect the family?
• ◦What are you proudest of getting through?
• ◦What did hard times teach you?
• ◦What would you say to a young woman facing something similar?