18 birthday interview questions for kids
A birthday interview is the same short list of questions, asked every year around your child’s birthday. One year’s answers are cute. Five years of answers side by side are something else: you watch “Ten, ’cause you’re big” turn into “Thirty-something. You have gray ones.”
“Ten. ’Cause you’re big.”
“Thirty-something. You have gray ones.”
How to do it
- Same questions every year. The comparison is the whole point. Add a new one if you like, but keep the old ones.
- Spread it out. You don’t need a sit-down interview. Ask a couple at breakfast, one in the bath, one at bedtime, any time in the week around the birthday.
- Write the exact answer. No fixing, no “what they meant.” Add a few words of context if it helps.
- Don’t push. “I don’t know” is an answer too. Write it down; next year it will be different.
- Start at about three. Most children can handle short back-and-forth questions around then. For younger ones, write your own answers about them instead.
The 18 questions
These are the birthday questions built into Daysake. Pick the ones you like, or use them all.
- What do you like best right now?
Start here. Keep it light. - What’s the yummiest thing?
Easy to ask at a meal. - Who do you play with these days, and what do you play?
It’s fine if names don’t come. - What do you wonder about most?
If no answer comes right away, give it a moment. - What’s the funniest thing in the whole world?
If it starts with giggles, hear it out to the end. - What does Mom (or Dad) like best?
It’s not a quiz. Just their guess. - How old is Mom (or Dad)?
Whatever number comes out, write it down as it is. - How old do you have to be to be a grown-up?
Let them decide. - What do you want to do when you’re big?
It doesn’t have to be a job. - What is love?
One word or a hug counts as an answer. - What do you like about being you?
Whatever comes, just nod and listen. - What are you going to wish for?
Ask before the candles go out. - What’s the scariest thing?
Hear it all before you say it’s okay. - What song do you like to hear these days?
If the name won’t come, ask them to sing a bit. - If you could go anywhere, where would you go?
The playground down the road is a fine answer. - What’s your most special thing right now?
If they run to get it, hear that story too. - What was the most fun day this year? What did you do?
No date needed. Just what happened. - And one for you: what made the two of you laugh hardest this year?
Write your own answer next to theirs.
Keeping the answers
A printable sheet works for one year. The trouble starts in year three, when you need to find the last two sheets. Keep every year in one place, with the date and your child’s age, so the answers line up.
In Daysake, the birthday interview opens around the birthday each year, starting at the third. Each answer is saved with the age, and the answers to the same question sit side by side across the years. You can download them all as a PDF to print. See how to turn quotes into a book.
Daysake reminds you around the birthday and keeps every year’s answers together, with the age.