Question guide

Questions to ask your grandparents about their life

Updated November 10, 2026

Your grandparents remember a world you only know from photographs: different streets, different prices, different rules at the dinner table. Ask, and you may be surprised how much comes back to them.

There’s no need to wait for a special occasion. Here are questions that tend to open up real stories, sorted by theme, with a few tips on asking them and on keeping what you hear.

Before you start

Pick a few questions, not the whole list. A conversation goes further than a quiz.
Start light. Games, food and friends are easy ways in. Leave heavier topics for later, and only if they want to go there.
Bring something to look at. An old photo, a recipe card or a souvenir gives them something to hold and talk about.
Follow the story. When they mention a name or a place, ask about it. The side roads are often where the good stories are.
Record it, if they agree. The voice recorder on a phone is enough. Their voice is worth keeping, not only the facts.

When they were small

What’s your earliest memory?
What was the house you grew up in like? Which room do you remember most?
What games did you play, and who did you play with?
What did you get in trouble for?
What did your family eat on an ordinary weeknight?

Their own family

What were your parents like? What did they do for work?
Did you know your grandparents? What were they like?
Where did our family live before you were born?
Are there family stories that were passed down to you?

Growing up in their time

What did things cost when you were young? What did you save up for?
What did you do on a Saturday as a teenager?
What music did you love, and where did you listen to it?
Tell me about your first car, or the first place you drove.
What’s changed most in your lifetime, for better or worse?

School and work

What were you like as a student?
What job did you have as a teenager, and what did you do with the money?
How did you choose your work, or did it choose you?
What were you really good at?

Love and family

How did you two meet?
What was your wedding day like?
What was my mom or dad like as a kid?
What do you remember about the day my mom or dad was born?

Traditions and food

Which holidays were the biggest deal in your house growing up?
Is there a recipe that came from your parents? Would you show me how to make it?
Which family traditions would you like us to keep going?

Looking back

What are you proudest of?
Was there a hard time you’d be willing to tell me about? What got you through it?
What advice would you give me at my age?
What would you like your great-grandchildren to know about you?

Lighter ones, for any time

What’s the funniest thing that ever happened at a family dinner?
What would you do with a free day and nobody to answer to?
When you were my age, what did you think the future would look like?
What’s a story about you that the rest of the family has never heard?

Keeping their answers

Save and label the recordings with the date and topic, and back them up in two places, such as your computer and a cloud folder.
Write down names and places while they’re fresh, and check the spellings next time you talk.
Share them. Cousins, aunts and uncles may add questions of their own, or remember the same story differently.
Turn them into something. A typed transcript, a few printed pages with photos, or a short book. Our guide on how to record a parent’s life story covers the setup and what to do after each conversation.

If you live far apart, ask a question or two on your regular phone calls and write down what you hear. Or give them a way to answer at their own pace: