Fathers Day Q&A
Fathers Day is approaching in the UK and US
Hello friends,
It’s not Fathers Day in Australia, but the day is marked in the U.S. and U.K. on Sunday so I wrote a little Q&A you can record with your Dad on your smartphone’s voice memo app or something similar.
If your father is no longer living or unable to do something like this anymore, I’m so sorry if this upsets you or makes you miss him even more. Maybe you could interview someone about your father?
I suggest you record the Q&A session on your smartphone. Make sure you have a bit of memory on your phone. I have kept the Q&A short, but hopefully, this may just be the start of ‘Conversations with Dad’, a family story project perhaps?
Why did you marry Mum?
What’s the family chore you like the least?
What are three moments in your life you most treasure. Why?
How - and in what ways - is your life different from (or the same as) your father’s?
Who taught you how to be a good father? How do you define a good father?
How do you talk to your children (or/and grand-children) about love?
What are three events (book, show, film, painting, photograph, sport, anniversary, gathering) that you treasure?
What have you been successful at?
What brings you pleasure?
What would you do differently, if given the chance?
Instructions:
Show the questions to your father a day before the interview so that he 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 dad 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 his mouth to ensure the sound is clear.
Encourage him to elaborate by being, well, encouraging!
These questions are triple verified by an actual father. Thanks Dad!
Many times, when someone gives me one of those Dear Mom or Dear Dad journals to read when writing a eulogy, I often find mostly blank pages staring back at me. Empty pages. Lost memories. Missed stories. When you know there is no possibility of finding out what could have filled those pages, it is the saddest of situations. Your suggestion adds the layers of voice and words, and it’s much more likely to happen. Just Press Record is an app I’ve used. ($5) (I’m sure that there are so many alternatives.) Easy to use for simple conversations, and transcribes the words almost instantly. It syncs across all my devices and storing data on the cloud ensures the safety of those precious memories. With the voice and words, there are so many options for what you could do next. Jane, thanks for the idea and the post.
Thank you,Jane. this is great. I do miss my father but this gives me a chance to do something for my husband's children