What are good questions to ask my son?

Ask what he remembers about home, what he learned from watching you, what he is proud of, and what he finds hard to say.

He gives one-word answers. Does this help?

Yes — specific written questions get much longer answers than 'how was your day?'.

How do we keep the answers?

Go Family Story keeps his written answers, photos and voice recordings in one private archive you control.

Questions to ask your son

Sons are rarely asked much about themselves. These questions are specific enough to answer easily, and they cover childhood, friendship, work and the things he has never mentioned.

Questions to ask your son about his own life

Ask a few at a time. Written answers often go deeper than a conversation.

1.What did you learn about being a man by watching the men in our family?
2.What is the bravest thing you have done?
3.When did you first feel grown up, and what made you feel it?
4.What did you want to be before anyone told you what was sensible?
5.What did our house teach you about how to treat people?
6.What is your idea of a perfect ordinary day?
7.What did friendship look like for you at fifteen?
8.What was the first thing you ever bought with your own money?
9.What did leaving home actually feel like?
10.What are you better at than you let on?
11.What has surprised you most about your own adult life?
12.What do you carry from our family that you want to keep?
13.What are you proudest of that has nothing to do with work?
14.What would you tell someone starting out today?
15.What do you find hardest to say out loud?
16.What kind of love do you believe in?
17.What do you want your own life to feel like in ten years?
18.What did a normal evening look like in your house?
19.What is your very first memory?
20.What did our home feel like to you when you were small?
21.What did you dread?
22.What did you learn from a bad boss or a bad job?
23.What did you think about at bedtime as a child?
24.Who was your best friend, and what were they like?
25.What was school actually like for you?
26.What did you learn about apologising?
27.What were you good at that nobody praised?
28.What was the hardest year of growing up?
29.When did you feel most alone?
30.What do you own that you would replace immediately?
31.What do you remember about our family holidays?
32.What tradition of ours meant something to you?
33.When did you start feeling like an adult?
34.Who could you call at three in the morning?
35.What are you most proud of in your own life?
36.What are you working towards now?
37.Who are the people who matter most to you today?
38.What advice would you give about raising children?
39.What do you want out of the next ten years?
40.What do you hope your own children know about you?
41.What should our family keep doing?
42.What was kept in the good cupboard that nobody was allowed to touch?
43.What was our home like from where you were standing?
44.What did you love about being small?
45.What frightened you as a child that we never knew about?

Turn these questions into a gift they'll keep

We send the questions for you. They answer free from their inbox, and every answer, photo and recording is gathered into one private archive — kept on a highly secure database, and downloadable by you at any time.

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Questions to answer about your son

Write down what you remember of him growing up, and ask the rest of the family to do the same.

46.What is he like as a small boy?
47.What do they make possible for you?
48.What does he insist on doing by himself?
49.What did he care about long before anyone encouraged it?
50.What did he look like when he was concentrating?
51.What do you wish you had asked them?
52.What is he like with his friends?
53.What did he find hard about growing up?
54.When does he stop being a child, in your eyes?
55.What would they want us to keep doing?
56.What does he teach you about yourself?
57.What does he stand up for, even when it cost him?
58.What does he do that is unmistakably him?
59.What would you like them to understand about what they mean to you?
60.What is he better at than anyone in the family?
61.What does he worry about that he should not?
62.What make you proudest of him?
63.How do they dress when nobody is looking?
64.What does he forgive you for?
65.What does he need that he never asks for?

Collect the answers in one place

Go Family Story sends three of these questions a week by private link. The person answers with a free account, and every answer, photo, video and voice recording is kept in one private archive that only your family can see.

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Common questions

What are good questions to ask my son?: Ask what he remembers about home, what he learned from watching you, what he is proud of, and what he finds hard to say.
He gives one-word answers. Does this help?: Yes — specific written questions get much longer answers than 'how was your day?'.
How do we keep the answers?: Go Family Story keeps his written answers, photos and voice recordings in one private archive you control.