Creating a grandparent journal... for someone else.
October 26, 2016 7:43 AM Subscribe
Help me help my aunt and uncle create a memory journal for their grandkids. Snowflakes inside.
My aunt and uncle have grandchildren they live far away from and don't see as often as they'd like - a couple of times a year, maybe. I lost my own grandparents young and I'd like my nieces to have what I didn't, a store of memories and stories etc from Grandma and Grandpa. Complicating factors:
- My cousins (aunt and uncle's son) are divorced, and while they are apparently cordial and co-parent without much hassle, my aunt and uncle have Issues about said divorce.
- M, my cousin's ex, has remarried and has a kid. Uncle especially is less than sanguine. I would like to try and avoid hurting Tiniest Niece as much as possible.
- I don't live in the US/UK, and therefore out-of-the-box solutions from Amazon etc are generally not an option.
I am reasonably crafty; I was thinking I would put together a nice hardcover journal, a booklet of prompts, and some nice pens, wrap the lot up, and give it to them to fill at their leisure.
Suggestions for prompts, as well as other things for them to add (family photos? Recipes?) would be much appreciated.
My aunt and uncle have grandchildren they live far away from and don't see as often as they'd like - a couple of times a year, maybe. I lost my own grandparents young and I'd like my nieces to have what I didn't, a store of memories and stories etc from Grandma and Grandpa. Complicating factors:
- My cousins (aunt and uncle's son) are divorced, and while they are apparently cordial and co-parent without much hassle, my aunt and uncle have Issues about said divorce.
- M, my cousin's ex, has remarried and has a kid. Uncle especially is less than sanguine. I would like to try and avoid hurting Tiniest Niece as much as possible.
- I don't live in the US/UK, and therefore out-of-the-box solutions from Amazon etc are generally not an option.
I am reasonably crafty; I was thinking I would put together a nice hardcover journal, a booklet of prompts, and some nice pens, wrap the lot up, and give it to them to fill at their leisure.
Suggestions for prompts, as well as other things for them to add (family photos? Recipes?) would be much appreciated.
You might add this book to the package. It also comes as a journal, for those less crafty than you.
posted by sarajane at 9:24 AM on October 26, 2016
posted by sarajane at 9:24 AM on October 26, 2016
There are many resources in both book format and on the internet. If you search/Google "Family History Interview" you will find more lists of questions/prompts than you will know what to do with.
I especially like this one because it helps prevent getting overwhelmed:
52 Questions in 52 Weeks
For longer lists of questions:
150 Questions to ask family members
172 Questions to Ask When Doing a Family History Interview
I like the book, Touching Tomorrow by Mary LoVerde. It is a bit outdated in terms of technology but it has a great set of questions along with an introductory section about the value of recording an audio and/or video interview.
Whatever questions/prompts they use, they will definitely want to select a subset - too many questions is overwhelming.
Beyond that there are tons of "Grandmother/Grandfather Remembers" books out there, some better than others, any one better than nothing.
posted by Altomentis at 9:30 AM on October 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
I especially like this one because it helps prevent getting overwhelmed:
52 Questions in 52 Weeks
For longer lists of questions:
150 Questions to ask family members
172 Questions to Ask When Doing a Family History Interview
I like the book, Touching Tomorrow by Mary LoVerde. It is a bit outdated in terms of technology but it has a great set of questions along with an introductory section about the value of recording an audio and/or video interview.
Whatever questions/prompts they use, they will definitely want to select a subset - too many questions is overwhelming.
Beyond that there are tons of "Grandmother/Grandfather Remembers" books out there, some better than others, any one better than nothing.
posted by Altomentis at 9:30 AM on October 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
I'm doing something similar myself and I'm using a book of 300 Writing Prompts I bought at Target. It's a pretty broad variety of questions, so it has a lot of stuff I wouldn't have thought of. It was in their journals section.
posted by MsMolly at 4:52 PM on October 26, 2016
posted by MsMolly at 4:52 PM on October 26, 2016
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posted by Ms. Moonlight at 8:22 AM on October 26, 2016