Mazie is about to turn 4 years old and she is bubbling with excitement about it. She tells me regularly how many days until her birthday, and that she will be able to jump higher and possibly grow several inches when she turns 4.
I’ve been thinking that it would be really fun to setup the video camera and ask her some questions. Essentially an interview. My idea is to put together a set of questions that would stay pretty constant and to do a video like this on her birthday each year, until she tells me to bugger off. :-)
I love the idea of capturing this, and capturing how things change over time. It’s obvious to me that simple questions should be included, like…
- What is your favorite color?
- What is your favorite food?
- Who are your best friends?
- What is your favorite thing to do?
I’d like to get this right though and I’m positive that there are several questions that I’m not thinking of. That’s the reason for this post…
what would you ask your kid?
I would really like to get the perspective of those much wiser than me, so please chime in.
Update (June 9, 2011): I’ve started to maintain a list of questions that I ask Mazie on these videos.
One thing I ask Warren at the end of the day is “What was the best part of the day?” Maybe something along those lines but for the whole year.
Maybe something along the lines of “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“Where would you like to go on vacation?”
“What kind of animal would you like to be?” (“are you” in Warrens case as he is always something. Today he is my dad’s dog. He has been a snake, bird, tick, owl, horse, goat, etc…
Maybe get a little political on her and ask her who the President is.
“Favorit TV/Movie/story character.”
Thanks for the suggestions Arthur! These are great.
LOVE this idea Jamie! I might even steal it from you for Nora…when she can talk. I would also ask Mazie, “What would you like to be when you grow up?” and maybe just ask her to describe herself (or ask for five words or something to make it finite). Then, you can finish it up with, “What was your favorite birthday present this year?”
Steal away! And thanks for the suggestions.
Zoe and I have played a game, we call “what’s your favorite and why”. We have played it for years(wish I would have recorded it, what a great idea). Some questions for you to ask:
What’s your favorite kind of weather?
What’s your favorite time of day?
What’s your favorite book? Song?
What’s your favorite number?
What’s your favorite place?
What’s your favorite thing to do with mommy? Daddy?
There are tons more, but I tell you the best part is the “why”. I am sure her answers to “why” will amaze you. For instance, Zoe’s favorite weather is rainy because when it rains the trees drink the water and then they look pretty.
I would love to see Mazie’s interview, if you want to share it.
I love asking about some question around more, what most would say, mundane things like time of day. That gets you some of that great insight. Thanks!
On a side note, this interview (edited version) could be fun to play when Mazie graduates high school or when she gets married.
Absolutely! :-)
sounds a bit like this documentary series:
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2948046080/tt0088650
Cool documentary — that would be fun to watch.
My favorite question for my daughters is: “What’s on your mind?” Truly open-ended so I’m not prompting anything in particular. The results have been fabulous, and, like the others, wish I’d recorded some…never too late to start…
Don’t forget to ask a how question:
How does the car work?
How to fish eat?
How do you make cookies?
or something strange like:
How does the dog know what day it is?
Not sure if this works for four, but my five-year-old loves to give explanations.
I asked my 13-year-old daughter Leah what you should ask Mazie each year, and she said to ask “What is your biggest goal in life?” Which got me to thinking of a meta question you could ask her, which is “What should a dad repeatedly ask his daughter in a series of annual, videotaped interviews?”
Just a quick note to thank everyone for their great feedback. I did do the interview with Mazie and edited it down to a nice 10 minute video. It’s really cool, and I can see how stacking several of these on top of each other will be really fun.
Many of your suggested questions made it into the video. Thank you for the input! I’m not publishing the video widely on the web, but if you really, really would like to see it send me an email.