Questions for Interviewing Kids

December 30, 2015 5:31 AM

We'd like to video record interviews of our kids (currently 5 and 3) at the end of each year and would like suggested questions to ask them. Ideally, these same questions can be asked each year. So far we've come up with questions like, "what do you want to be when you grow up?" and "who is your best friend?" We're not as interested in "Kids Say the Darndest Things" style questions. In addition to suggested questions, if you've done this sort of thing before, we'd appreciate any advice on executing this effectively.
posted by i love cheese to Human Relations (20 answers total)

What's the best thing that's happened all year? What was a challenge for you this year?

If you could change any one thing about your life (or the world maybe) what would you change?

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
posted by bunderful at 5:37 AM on December 30, 2015

What was your favourite Christmas present?
posted by EndsOfInvention at 5:44 AM on December 30, 2015

What's the most most exciting thing in the world? What are you most afraid of? What are you proud about? How have you changed in the last year? How will you change this year? What is your favorite thing about your brother/sister/parent...
posted by wyzewoman at 5:48 AM on December 30, 2015

I've had a list of questions set aside from another site to do just this, so thanks for reminding me! My son is four and I think he's just at the right age to be able to understand most of them. Here they are:
What is the meaning of life?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
What brings you the most happiness?
When do you feel the most loved?
What are you afraid of?
If you had one wish, what would you wish for?
What is the funniest word?
What is the hardest/easiest thing to do?
What is the best/worst thing in the world?
What makes you mad?
What is the meaning of love?
If you had all the money in the world, what would you do with it?
posted by Jubey at 5:50 AM on December 30, 2015

I recommend you watch the documentary 'Children talking', presented by the journalist Harold Williamson. He asks children questions and lets them talk. He asks them questions about God, the government, workers rights, stay at home mothers, what it means to be rich, etc, and their answers are very sweet. It is available on bbc iplayer in three 30 minute episodes, or youtube (although just audio version).
posted by akita at 6:08 AM on December 30, 2015

Simple questions can be gold.

My favorite answer (from a 2 year old last year) was to 'How old is your Dad?'

I have never had much luck with 'what is your favorite'. We usually get 'all the trucks are my favorite!' But, if you ask my kid about what his excavator can do you get a really long detailed response, complete with voices and a guest appearance of the garbage truck, if you are lucky.
posted by typecloud at 6:17 AM on December 30, 2015

For repeating questions, pinterest has some good lists that include simpler ones like 'How old is your dad?' and more complex ones that are better for when they are older. I found them under father's day gift ideas.
posted by typecloud at 6:19 AM on December 30, 2015

Who is your hero has gotten us some great answers.
posted by dpx.mfx at 6:21 AM on December 30, 2015

What would you do with $100?
What makes you the most angry?
Tell me a joke
posted by Mchelly at 6:32 AM on December 30, 2015

Tell me a joke.
Who's your favorite book/tv/etc. character? Why?
What makes you laugh?
Who are your favorite people at school?
What's your favorite outfit?
Where's the best place you went this year?
What do you like to play in your room?
How do you feel about horses? I ask this because many kids go through the OMGHORSESARELIFE phase and some don't, but one of my kids did and now owns her own pony and works in the veterinary field so it can be cook to see the early seeds of this.

What's your favorite thing to cook? To eat? I say this because we just discovered my 22 year old daughter's "Recipe Book" written when she was 4. It consists of sugar and cinnamon that you dip apples into. She wrote pears on another page. She is now a 22 year old mostly-vegan cook so how about that.
posted by sweetie_darling at 6:49 AM on December 30, 2015

Previously :)
posted by Twicketface at 6:59 AM on December 30, 2015

As a follow-up to "who is your best friend?" you might consider asking "why?" I bet the different answers to the follow-up will be fascinating over time.
posted by OrangeDisk at 7:20 AM on December 30, 2015

You want this Q&A three year diary - I have one for my tiny monster which when I remember to use it, produces hilarious to fascinating answers.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:53 AM on December 30, 2015

I'm not awake enough yet this morning to think about questions, but I wanted to mention some tips before I forget - make sure and, if they say something that you can follow up on, DO it. Ask more questions that build from whatever they said. That's often where you get some of the best answers. Try really hard to avoid yes/no type questions, or ones that can be answered with one word - and when you do get a one word response, ask for more. Ask why, or whatever other question is appropriate. Solicit some facts, but go after lots of opinions, too.
posted by stormyteal at 8:20 AM on December 30, 2015

Tell me a story about something cool that happened to you. Kids love telling stories, and you'll get to let them pick what's important to them and tell you about it.

Also, my single favorite video of myself as a child is when my father filmed 5 year old me talking about what I did the night before that got me in trouble, and why I did it. It wasn't as a punishment or anything; he just asked, "so, how did all of that lotion get all over the carpet in your bedroom?" And I told basically the most hilarious story ever about how I couldn't really tell the difference between a humidifier (you know, the machine that makes steam come out to cure dry air) and moisturizer (skin cream). So I highly recommend asking kids, when was the last time you got in trouble, and what happened.
posted by decathecting at 8:36 AM on December 30, 2015

I'm not awake enough yet this morning to think about questions, but I wanted to mention some tips before I forget - make sure and, if they say something that you can follow up on, DO it. Ask more questions that build from whatever they said. That's often where you get some of the best answers. Try really hard to avoid yes/no type questions, or ones that can be answered with one word - and when you do get a one word response, ask for more. Ask why, or whatever other question is appropriate. Solicit some facts, but go after lots of opinions, too.

Yes yes yes. And I'm not sure it matters quite so much with children, but I've found that following up with "How come?" sounds less judgmental (and therefore produces more open, interesting responses) than following up with "Why?"

You might also try "Tell me about your favorite X" rather than "What's your favorite X?" You can keep following that up with "Oh, ok, tell me more!" or "Oh, what else?" Like, multiple times on the same original question.
posted by jaguar at 8:37 AM on December 30, 2015

I was also going to suggest tacking on "why?" At the end of all of those questions. What do you want to be when you grow up? WHY?
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 9:05 AM on December 30, 2015

Ask them to describe "the best day ever," with follow-up questions for more detail. They'll either recount something that's already happened (birthday, holiday) or really let their imaginations run amok.
posted by Iris Gambol at 9:19 AM on December 30, 2015

I do this and it's great fun, but important tip: translate. Especially for the three year old, other watchers - and yourself in future years when you forget that 'doseado' was their pronunciation for 'grocery store' for that seven months of the lives - it can be hard to make out what they are saying. For the littlest I restated what they said as part of the video (which is more natural than it sounds - "oh, you like oranges? Is that your favorite food or your favorite fruit?"). As they aged I would write a transcription afterwards, which is especially nice for family who cannot hear perfectly or when you want to scan through for a quote or story instead of researching the whole thing.

And this is probably obvious, but don't do this before nap or lunch - you want them content and alert.
posted by blue_and_bronze at 10:59 AM on December 30, 2015

Ask them to tell you a story. Some of my favorite memories are of the weird stories my nieces and nephew would make up out of thin air or in reference to a drawing they created. I wish I had thought to document them all for posterity.
posted by Julnyes at 11:08 AM on December 30, 2015