40 questions to ask Dad about his life

Ask one, then wait

A long list is a menu, not a script. Pick a question he can answer in a few minutes. Write down his words. If you use Kitchen Table Stories, these samples stay optional. The family can send their own, and those go first after the current question. We do not promise that all forty will be emailed.

The forty questions

1. What did a weekday morning sound like in the place you grew up?
2. Which room do you still picture, and what was usually sitting in it?
3. Who was at the table for an ordinary supper, and what did you talk about?
4. What did you do on a day when nobody had planned anything?
5. What job around the house fell to you?
6. What did you pass on the way to school or to work, and who did you notice there?
7. What did you wear when you wanted to feel like yourself?
8. What could you do for hours without someone telling you to stop?
9. Who taught you a practical skill with their hands?
10. What was the first errand you were trusted to do alone?
11. What showed up for dinner so often that you can still describe it?
12. What did people eat on an ordinary night, and who usually put it on the table?
13. What snack or treat did you look forward to?
14. What did you take with you when you would be away from home all day?
15. Where did you go when you wanted something to eat and home was too far?
16. What was your first paid job, and what happened on the first day?
17. What skill took you longer to learn than you expected?
18. Which part of a workday did you like, and which part dragged?
19. Who did you work beside, and what were they like on a normal day?
20. What tool, machine, or desk did you know by heart?
21. What was something you saved up to buy?
22. What did you wear to work, and how did it feel by the end of the day?
23. Where did you go when you wanted a quiet half hour?
24. What short trip do you still describe to people?
25. What road or street did you know well enough to walk without thinking?
26. Which place you lived in was the first that felt like yours?
27. What building did you walk into often, and what did you do there?
28. What could you see from a window you looked out of a lot?
29. Who is someone you have loved, as a friend, family member, or partner, and how did you meet?
30. What did you do on an ordinary evening with someone you liked being around?
31. What joke or story got retold in your house?
32. What day off did you look forward to, and what did you actually do?
33. What song or radio program was often on?
34. What did you do when the weather kept everyone inside?
35. What changed on your street or at your work while you were there?
36. What habit did you pick up as an adult that you did not have as a child?
37. What are you glad you learned how to make or fix?
38. What would you tell a younger person about getting through a dull week at work?
39. What small thing still makes a day feel like a good one?
40. What should we ask you next that is not on this list?

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