Good questions about childhood offer a starting point without requiring the person to remember everything. Ask whether they want to talk about a place, someone important or a game. Do not assume a happy childhood or try to fill in what is uncertain; a partial memory can also be recorded as such.
Invitations to talk about smells and sounds
- What smell takes you straight back to your childhood?
- What dish did your mother or grandmother make that you have never tasted the same way since?
- What sound marked the mornings in your house?
Questions about home and neighbourhood
The place where someone grew up is a map of stories:
- Describe your childhood home. What was your favourite spot?
- What were the neighbours and the street where you played like?
- Was there a forbidden place that drew you in anyway?
Questions about games and school
- What was your favourite game, and who did you play with?
- What was the way to school like?
- Which teacher have you never forgotten?
Questions like these are the basis for rebuilding a whole life story, starting at the beginning. To go beyond childhood, see also our questions to learn your family’s history.
From chat to page
Ask whether the person wants to keep the conversation as notes or audio. Before recording, agree on the purpose, access and review of the account. The answers can be the basis for chapters, with editorial work and the storyteller’s approval; you can also simply talk, with no record at all.
Ask about the season, the street and the school
A childhood in Canada may include long winters, summers by the water or routines quite different from those familiar images. Let the person describe the place instead of suggesting a ready-made scene. Ask which language was spoken at home, who lived nearby and what they did on days without school. If childhood happened in another country, keep that context: living here today does not change where the memory was born.
Further reading: Oral History Association — ethics.