Interviews With My Kids

Several months ago I read a note that a friend of mine posted on Facebook. It was an interview with her child. I thought it was a great idea, but it took me awhile to finally do it myself.
I gathered a pretty extensive list of questions, so we conducted the “interview” in several sessions. I found some answers to be sweet – others brutally honest, and a few were funny...

After reviewing their answers, I have noticed a few patterns that are interesting with each of my children, and give me a glimpse into how they think and reason. My 5 year old answered most of his questions with either several answers or an explanation along with the answer. My 2 year old answered quickly, and simply. Mostly short, single word responses, or a blunt, “I don’t know.” And when I pressed her to guess, she would become slightly frustrated and just repeat, “I do not know.” My son [the 5 year old] would almost always take a guess without my encouragement. He would start with “I don’t really know,…but maybe” and then give his summary of thoughts. I find these differences interesting.

My son enjoyed the interviews. He was thrilled that I wanted to know about him and was excited to share his answers with me. My daughter was mostly indifferent. She wasn’t thrilled to do it, but she didn’t hate it. It was just what we were doing and as long as I could keep her attention, she was willing to comply. Once it became boring, she quickly checked out.

This was a fun and insightful project for me, and I think they liked it too. I know especially for my son, seeing that I was taking an interest in him, in what he likes and feels and knows, made him feel special and he enjoyed that.

Here is the list of questions I asked the kids.  As you can see, it’s a fairly long list for preschool-age children. You could, of course choose a few you like or come up with your own if you decide to interview your own kids. If you think of others please share them!

I plan to ask theses questions at least once a year and compare their answers. Here are a few of my favorite questions and answers from each of my kids:

From my 2 year old daughter’s interview:

 When is your birthday?
When we have a princess party
 What makes you feel sad?
When I go on the alligator, I was sad when I goed on the alligator [a statue at the zoo over a year ago]
 What do you like to eat?
Peanut butter and jelly
 What food do you not like?
A fuzzy [A fuzzy??? I promise I do not feed my children “fuzzy” food!]
 What is your favorite thing to do?
Play
 What does your Mommy do?
Um, do tricks. [“What kind of tricks?”] Um…backflips. [I do NOT do backflips…or any other “tricks”]
 What does your Mommy say?
“No.” [Sadly, I do say “no” quite frequently.]
 What is the most special thing about Mommy?
She is my favorite. [LOVE!]
 What does your Daddy do? 
Go to work.
 What do you like to do with Daddy?
Play outside, squirt gun [My husband told me that the last time he remembers playing with squirt guns was last summer!]
 What is the most special thing about Daddy?
Oh, Daddy’s have beards.
 How old is Grandma?
She’s two. [I asked several times and Grandma was always two.]
 How old is Grandpa?
I don’t know. [Also asked several times and she never knew.]
 What does Grandma do?
Oh she does some tricks, tricks on the trampoline. [I, for one, am bitterly disappointed that I have missed out on seeing said tricks.]
 What does Grandpa do?
Play video [I’m not sure if I have ever seen my Dad play video games, and only occasionally my husband’s Dad. Is she voicing her opinions on what she thinks we should be doing?]
 How do you make cookies?
I don’t know... Oh you make it with a fridgerator then you make it when it's hot
 What is gravity?
I don’t know what gravity is.
 Where did your sisters/brothers come from?
Um, the doctor place
 Where does electricity come from?
Tricity??? I…I don’t know tricity.
 What is your favorite place?
This home
 What is your favorite Bible story?
Um, Jesus love me
 What is your favorite cereal?
Breakfast
 What is your favorite vegetable?
Peanut butter and jelly
 What is your favorite color?
Red. [I] Mean, no…the very color that’s Lightning that’s have red on him [Lightning McQueen from the movie “Cars”. When you have a big brother, you play with cars and all the dolls are referred to as “guys”.]


From my 5 year old son’s interview:

 When were you born?
I don’t remember, but I know I had a burn. [He did have a burn. One of the hospital staff burned him just before we would have been discharged…a sad story for another day.]
 What is your birthday?
My birthday is fun.
 When is your birthday?  
[Gave the month and day] [Finally…we have successfully communicated!]
 What do you want to be when you grow up?
I don’t know. I think um, maybe I’ll want to sleep and do everything that has to be done and help my kids.
 Where would you like to go on vacation?
On a big hill
 Where do you want to live when you grow up?
At a bigger house
 Who is your Mommy?
My Mommy is you…right there, holding L. [my 6 week old] in your arms.
 What does your Mommy do?
She takes care of the baby and holds the baby and maybe snuggles with me.
 What does your Mommy say?
“R., I really want to snuggle you.” [He explained that this is actually what he wants me to say, not what I say. Apparently, he needs more affection from me.]
 Who is your Daddy?
My Daddy is the one at work, at [named where Daddy works].
 What does your Daddy say?
“Hello, R. I missed you.”
 What do you like to do with Daddy?
Play outside, play video and maybe take turns with playing computer and doing the Toy Story Legos – eating breakfast
 What is the most special thing about Daddy?
That, um, he has fun with me and I love him, that he plays video with me and maybe that he plays outside with me. I don’t remember if he does, but if he does that I know its fun. [So, do you think that maybe, perhaps, it has been too long since Daddy played outside with him?]
 How old is Grandma?
I think she is 40. [He guessed about a decade younger.]
 How old is Grandpa?
Maybe 60 [About a decade older…]
 How old is Mom?
Hmmm…20 [I’m 27. But I'll go with 20. ;) ]
 How old is Dad
30 [He’s 31. Pretty close!]
 What does Grandma do?
Brings things to our house sometimes [“What kind of things?”] Toys for us
 Where do babies come from?
Mommies’ tummies
 Where does electricity come from?
Ground. Maybe it’s from the ground.
 How much does a house cost?
I think it costs one dollar. ["One dollar?"] Maybe three dollars
 How much does a video game cost?
I think it’s 20 or maybe 30. I don’t know how much, but maybe that.
 What is your favorite game?
Video game and games that you can play outside or inside and board games and computer games...and well, all kinds of game, well, not ALL kinds of games and movie games...all kinds of stuff of games [He may not fully comprehend the definition of the word “favorite”.]
 What is your favorite animal?
A cool dragon
 What is your favorite vegetable?
A yummy bean, I think they’re called green beans
 What is your favorite thing to drink?
Juice and milk
 What is your favorite color?
I don’t really even know, but maybe if I get a thing that’s all the colors then I could see what color is my favorite.

I also thought [after I had already asked the questions] that it would be interesting to write down what I thought their answers would be first.  Maybe next time. 

Ok...now go find out about your kids.  I need to go and snuggle with mine.  ;)