Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Recording family history - how young?

My alert readers know that I have four beautiful grandchildren that I absolutely enjoy and adore. I often wonder what is in their little heads - wisdom, silliness, mush? One never knows. My daughter asked her 4-year old daughter some Family Interview questions today - just for fun, mind you - and got some fascinating responses:

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1. What is something mom always says to you?
"Thank you"

2. What makes mom happy?
"Candy." The wisdom of children...

3. What makes mom sad?
"Saying No hurts her feelings."

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
"Saying something funny."

5. What was your mom like as a child?
"A baby"

6. How old is your mom?
"Four"

7. How tall is your mom?
"Your feet are 10 and your head is 9" (She said this while touching my feet, then touching my head as if she was measuring)

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
"Play with my dolls and have tea parties."

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
"Miss me."

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?
"I don't know. That's silly." I am not sure she knows what famous means.

11. What is your mom not really good at?
"Being a good listener." Ouch.

12. What is your mom very good at?
"Saying thank you."

13. What does your mom do for her job?
"Watch A-----"

14. What is your mom's favorite food?"
Rice and coconuts and California rolls with pickles"

15. What makes Mommy proud of you?
"Playing together at home."

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
"Snow White."

17. What do you and your mom do together?
"Go places and have some fun."

18. How are you and your mom the same?
"My hair also curls."

19. How are you and your mom different?
"We don't have the same clothes." We would if they made BabyGap clothes in grown up sizes...

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
"Because you are cute like that."

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
"Disneyland."

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This girl is very verbal, and has a decent vocabulary. She can talk endlessly and be entertaining. She often responds literally (see 5, 13 and 21), has a sense of humor, and can often tell when someone is kidding.

I posted this to make the point that even four-year-olds have thoughts and feelings. Wouldn't it be interesting to see an interview with many of the same questions done once a year? Wouldn't that be an interesting "journal" about the early life of a child - say from pre-school to college.

I cannot remember much from my pre-school or even school days. Those years are not remembered in any detail - some friends, a few teachers, some pivotal moments, but not a day-to-day recollection. I know that some people have that, but I'm not one of them! I have to make notes to remember yesterday, it seems.

Has anybody done a once-a-year series with their child, or grandchild?

3 comments:

RS said...

Adorable! She sounds like my four-year-old. This is definitely priceless.

I love the idea of periodically interviewing my kids.

Our Future Rooted in Our Past said...

I think that this was great. I agree that it would be a good idea to interview children periodically. It would be fun to record the interview to see how they change over the years.

Anonymous said...

We interview our kids once a year on video. In addition, we ran a class for fourth graders last year where they each created their own short video biography combining interviews they shot of each other and photos they brought in. Kids can do a lot!