Ideas for Parent Stories

Here are a few ideas to send home to parents to get them started telling and writing their own stories for their children.  Parents feel most comfortable if they have ideas to work from, but encourage them to be open to stories that come to them as they are working on these ideas:

1. Tell me the story of how you named me.  Did you name me after someone?  Did other people like my name?  What other names did you think about giving me?  What nicknames did you call me when I was a baby?
2. Did you ever have bad dreams when you were my age?  What did you do when this happened?  Do you remember any of your bad dreams?
3. What was your favorite holiday when you were my age?  How did you celebrate it?
4. What was your favorite family dinner when you were my age?  Can you give me a recipe for your favorite food or tell me how it was made?
5. Tell me about the oldest person you remember when you were my age.  What do you remember about this person?
6. Did you have any pets when you were my age?  Tell me about them.
7. What was the best family trip you ever took when you were a child?  Who went with you?  Where did you go?  What made the trip so much fun for you?
8. What was your favorite movie or television show when you were my age?  What do you remember about it?
9. Tell me about your favorite teacher or principal from elementary school.
10. What were you afraid of when you were my age?  Are you still afraid of the same things?
11. Did you have a secret hiding place or a special place to go to be alone when you were my age?
12. What kinds of things did you do in the winter (or other season) when you were my age?
13. Tell me about the bedroom you had when you were my age.  What did it look like?  Did you share it with anyone?  What kinds of things did you keep in your room?
14. When you were my age, what did you want to be when you grew up?
15. Tell me about your best friend when you were my age.  What did you do with your best friend?
16. When you were my age, did anyone ever pick on you or tease you?  What happened?
17. Tell me about a time during your childhood when you got in trouble or got hurt doing something that you weren’t supposed to do.
18. When you were my age, did you have any imaginary friends?  Please tell me about them.
19. Imagine what might happen when the year 2000 arrives.  Will it be a disaster or just another day?
20. Tell me about a time when you won a contest.  What was your prize?  How did you feel?  Or tell me about a time when you thought you would win but you didn’t?
21. Tell me about a favorite toy that you had when you were a child.  Why did you like it so much?  Where did you get it?  Do you still have it?
22. Make a list of the addresses (or at least the cities and states) of all the houses you have lived in during your life so far.  Include the approximate dates that you lived in each house.  Now choose one house that was especially important or memorable to you, and tell me about it.  Describe it to me, and tell me why the house meant so much to you.
23. Tell me about your best or worst birthday party ever.
24. Tell me about an important lesson that you learned outside of school.  What places besides school have been places of learning for you?
25. Tell me about a time when you were very proud of work that you did.
26. In the house where you grew up, what activities other than eating took place at the kitchen table?
27. What were your favorite foods when you were my age?  What did you just hate to find on your plate?  How did you deal with food that you didn’t like?
28. How did you get to school when you were my age?  Did you walk, ride your bike, take a bus, or did someone drive you to school?  What places did you pass?  Who did you see or talk to?  Do you remember any stories about going to or from school?
29. What was your favorite book when you were my age?  Do you remember someone reading to you?  Who was it?  Do you still like to be read to?
30. Did you collect anything when you were a child?  Tell me what you collected and why it was important to you.  Did someone else get you started with your collection?  Do you still have your collection, and can I see it?
31. Tell me about an experience that you had when you went camping or another outdoor adventure.
32. What was your bedtime when you were my age?  What did you do to prepare for bed?  Did you have any favorite ways of delaying bedtime?

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