Mothers Day Q&A
Something for your family archive
Family history isn’t just about ancestors. One day you and I will be ancestors. We don’t know whether our descendants or people of the future will be interested in exploring our lives however we each have a unique take on what it’s like to be living at this particular time. If we want to collect people’s stories, an excellent way to do this is to put your reporter’s hat on and become an interviewer. Lots of people are naturally skilled at this. Experts call the art of interviewing to preserve history, oral history. But real oral history can be a long process and some of us are short on time.
Mother’s Day is coming up this weekend for some parts of the world including my home country, Australia. I wrote a little Q&A you can record with your mother on your smartphone’s voice memo app or something similar.
If your Mum is no longer alive like mine, I’m so sorry if this upsets you or makes you miss her even more. I miss my Mum more than anything but I love thinking about her and all the motherly and not-so-motherly things she did!
If you are going to record this as I suggest, make sure you have a bit of memory in your phone. I have kept it short, but hopefully, this may just be the start of ‘Conversation with Mum’. All feedback welcome.
Instructions:
Show the questions to your mother a day before the interview so that she can have time to think about them.
On recording day, find a quiet spot, preferably away from a crowd, maybe a guest bedroom or somewhere carpeted.
Grab your mum and the questions. Touch ‘record’ on your smartphone voice memo app.
Be sure to hold the phone about the width of your hand (from tip of the pinky to tip of the thumb) from her mouth to ensure the sound is clear.
Encourage her to elaborate by being, well, encouraging!
Q&A: Ten Questions with Mum
Why did you marry Dad?
What’s the best thing you’ve ever done for yourself?
How would you summarise/describe your life to this point?
What do you fear most?
What was a missed opportunity?
Was motherhood what you hoped it would be?
Who taught you how to be a parent?
What is something you’ve regretted?
What are three things you dream of doing that’s still ahead of you?
What are three pieces of art or literature (book, show, film, painting, photograph) that you treasure?
Don’t forget I have three family story workshops coming up in late May and June. I would love you to register for these 👇
Have fun with your questions this weekend and let me know how you go!
G'day Jane. I lost my Mum 15 months ago but will use your wonderful questions to interview her sister. What a great series you have created! Thankyou!
Jack.
Jane, Great questions. Unfortunately, I can't ask her but I'd want to know how she met dad. I can't believe I never asked either of them although from her scrapbook he gave her valentine candy when she was 16. I don't know how they crossed paths. What's funny is I know how my aunt, dad's sister, met her husband. So many unanswered questions.