30 questions to ask your grandparents before it's too late

Most family stories die with the people who carry them. Not out of ill will: just because nobody ever asked. Here are 30 questions, grouped by life stage, to open conversations that go beyond the weather and how everyone's feeling.

Childhood (before 10)

1. What's the very first memory you can recall?
2. What did your bedroom look like when you were 7?
3. Who looked after you when your parents were at work?
4. What was your favourite meal, the one you couldn't wait for?
5. Was there an object that was precious to you at that age?

Teenage years (10-20)

6. What was the first record (or song) you ever bought?
7. What were Saturday nights like?
8. Which adult left a mark on you at that age — a teacher, a neighbour?
9. What did you dream of becoming?
10. What was your first real heartbreak?

Your twenties

11. How did you meet the person you'd share your life with?
12. Where did you live after leaving the family home?
13. What was your first real job? How much did you earn?
14. What decision from that time would you make again today?
15. What made you laugh at 25?

Your thirties and forties

16. How did you decide to start a family (or not to)?
17. What was hard that you never talked about?
18. Is there someone you lost touch with and regret it?
19. Which trip left the biggest mark on you?
20. When did you first feel like an adult?

Your fifties and beyond

21. What do you know today that you wish you'd known at 30?
22. Is there a historical event you lived through up close?
23. How did your line of work change between your early days and now?
24. What are you proudest of?
25. If you could rewrite one moment, which would it be?

To close

26. What do you want people to keep of you?
27. What family story do you carry that's never been told?
28. What makes you happy these days?
29. Is there a song that makes you cry?
30. If we had to write a single chapter of your life, which would you choose?

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Practical tip: record the answers (smartphone, voice recorder). No need to film everything — raw audio is simpler and you can have it transcribed later. The best stories come out when the person feels listened to, not watched.

If you'd like a more structured framework, autobiographai lets you email these questions to your loved ones, who answer at their own pace, and everything is assembled for you.