The Birthday Interview

same questions, every year

Every birthday, you ask your child the same handful of questions and keep their answers. Write them down or film them. Either way, you end up with a record of exactly who they were at five, at ten, at fifteen, in their own words.

HOW TO

Ask, record, keep

Ask the same questions

Pick a short list and stick with it every year. The magic is in asking the very same things, so you can watch the answers change. (Favourite food, best friend, what you want to be, the best thing about being this age.)

Write it down or film it

Fill in the worksheet by hand for a keepsake you can hold, or film a one-minute video on your phone for their voice and face at that age. Plenty of families do both.

Put it somewhere safe

Slip the page into a folder, your kids special keepsake box, or start a “Birthday Interview” album on your phone. One day it becomes the whole story of their growing up.

You won’t feel the difference in year one. By year ten, it’s one of the most precious things you own.

WHY IT WORKS

It catches who they are, before it changes

Children change so fast that you forget. You forget the lisp, the made-up words, the deadly serious plan to become a dog when they grow up. The same questions every year catch all of it, in their own voice, before it quietly disappears.

Asking the identical questions is what makes it work. A one-off cute video is lovely, but a row of the same answers over ten years tells a story: the favourite colour that never budged, the best friend who changed four times, the dream job that slowly came into focus.

And it gives the birthday child your full attention for ten minutes, all about them. That, as much as the keepsake, is the gift.

MAKE IT YOURS

Written, filmed or both

The worksheet is the keepsake you can hold; the video keeps their voice. If you can only do one, film it. If you can manage both, you’ll be glad you did.