60 questions to ask your parents about the places they've lived

Questions about the house they grew up in

1. What was the address of the first home you remember, and who lived there with you?
2. Which room was yours, and who did you share it with?
3. What could you see from the kitchen window?
4. Where did everyone sit at dinner?
5. What was the warmest spot in the house in winter, and who got it?
6. Where did you hide when you were in trouble?
7. What was kept in the basement, attic or shed that you weren't allowed to touch?
8. What did the house sound like at night?
9. Which neighbor's house did you know as well as your own?
10. What do you remember about the day your family left that house?

Questions about the neighborhood and the way to school

1. How did you get to school, and what did you pass on the way?
2. Where did the kids on your street play?
3. Which store did you get sent to, and what for?
4. Where were you not supposed to go, and did you go anyway?
5. Where did you learn to swim, ride a bike or drive?
6. Who was the neighbor everyone knew, and where did they live?
7. Where did your family spend Sundays?
8. Where was the best place to be on a hot day?
9. Where did you get hurt badly enough to remember it?
10. Which place from your childhood is gone now, and what's there instead?

Questions about school, work and money

1. Which classroom do you remember best, and who taught in it?
2. Where did you earn your first paycheck, and what did you spend it on?
3. Where was the worst job you ever had?
4. Where did you work the longest, and how did you get there each day?
5. Where did you eat lunch on a workday?
6. Where were you when you got the job that changed things?
7. Where did you first live on your own money?
8. What was the first place you rented or bought yourself, and what did it cost?
9. Where did you do the work you're proudest of?
10. Where did you go when you needed to think?

Questions about love and family

1. Where did you first see Mom (or Dad)?
2. Where was your first date, and who chose the place?
3. Where did you decide to get married, and where did you tell your parents?
4. Where was the wedding, and what went wrong that day?
5. Where was your first home together, and what was wrong with it?
6. Where were you when you found out I was on the way?
7. What do you remember about the place I was born?
8. Where did we go as a family that you'd go back to tomorrow?
9. Where did your own grandparents live, and what do you remember about visiting?
10. Where is the family buried, and who first took you there?

Questions about moves and journeys

1. Why did the family move each time it moved?
2. Which move was the hardest?
3. Where did you live that never felt like home?
4. Where did you live that you still miss?
5. What was the farthest from home you had been by the age of twenty?
6. Where did you go on the first trip you paid for yourself?
7. Where were you stationed, posted or sent for work, and what was it like?
8. Which road, railway or bus route do you know by heart?
9. Where did you once arrive with nothing arranged?
10. If you could show me one place you've lived, which would it be?

Questions for looking back

1. Where were you when you heard the news you'll never forget?
2. Where did you see something you still can't explain?
3. Where did you laugh the hardest you ever have?
4. Where did you make a decision that changed everything?
5. Where did someone do you a kindness you never repaid?
6. Where did you last see your own mother or father?
7. Where do you feel most like yourself?
8. Which place do you think about when you can't sleep?
9. Where would you like us to go together?
10. Which place should this family never forget, and why?