Here at Piedmont Home Care, we are blessed with a great team of caregivers. They excel at helping clients with tasks of daily living, keeping track of medications and even helping with transportation to appointments and activities. But one of the things we hear about most from our team is how much they enjoy the relationships they make with their clients, and what great things they learn by hearing stories of family, jobs and growing up years ago.

When you think about it, how much do you really know about your parents and grandparents? So much of who we are and our values is shaped by the people who raise us, but more often than not we don’t know very much about their lives before they got married and had children. Not just what they did but their thoughts and feelings.

Taking time to talk with your loved ones and really learn more about who they are and how their past helped shape them will not only provide you with a greater knowledge of your family history, it helps strengthen your own relationships. It means a lot to someone to know other people are interested in their story, and spending time together in conversation is a great way to show your love.

Recording Your Conversations

Many families share stories when they get together for family reunions or holiday meals. But remembering all the details of your favorite story if no one is taking notes. For a true oral history project, we recommend recording your conversations in whatever way you feel most comfortable. Of course, also ask permission first.

Video is a great way to record these conversations, if your loved one agrees. This way you not only have their story preserved, but you’ll be able to watch them telling it over and over again. Set up a video camera on a tripod or use your phone if you don’t have access to a camera.

Voice recordings are the next best thing to video. You can download an app such as Notta (available for iPhone and Android), Apple Voice Memos or Smart Voice (Android). And if recording is not an option, just take notes the old fashioned way, on paper!

Questions to Get You Started

Sometimes getting the best stories takes asking the right questions. Most people are uncomfortable talking about themselves at first, even to family. Ease into things with some softball questions before delving deeper into the stories that have been hard to share for whatever reason.

Here are a few suggestions for your list of questions:

What was your home like when you were little?

What chores did your parents do around the house?

Did you have a nickname? How did you get it?

What were meals like, and who cooked them?

How would you describe yourself as a child? Happy? Mischievous?

What was your relationship like with your parents? Siblings?

What is one of your favorite memories from school? What teacher had the biggest influence on you?

What was your very first job?

Each of these questions can serve as a jumping off point for longer conversations and follow up questions. Visit Story Corps for even more ideas to get the conversation going.