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Questions to ask your grandparents. And a place for the answers to live.
The best questions are specific. Not “tell me about your life” — nobody can answer that. One ordinary day, one first job, one smell from a childhood kitchen. Start anywhere on this list.
About ordinary days
- What did an ordinary Tuesday look like when you were ten?
- What did your childhood home smell like?
- What was the best meal in your house, and who made it?
- What did you do after school before anyone had a screen?
About work and becoming
- What was your first job, and what did it pay?
- What did you want to be, before life had a vote?
- What’s the hardest work you ever did — and would you do it again?
About love and family
- How did you meet Grandma / Grandpa? Who noticed whom first?
- What did your own parents never let you do?
- What’s a rule you made as a parent that you’d take back?
About the world changing
- What invention changed your daily life the most?
- What did things cost — a house, a car, a loaf of bread?
- What do you know now that you wish someone had told you at twenty?
About them, specifically
- What’s a story about you that nobody in the family tells anymore?
- What are you proudest of that we’d never think to ask about?
- What do you hope we remember about you?
How to ask
One question at a time. Old photos make the best prompts — put one in front of them and ask who’s in it. Keep it short: twenty good minutes beat a two-hour interview. And record it, or write the answer down that day; an answer that lives in your memory alone is already on loan.
the part lists leave out
Don’t let the answers die in a voice-memo folder.
Ask inside Roon and the answers become part of your family’s story. Grandparents and parents answer Rooney’s questions by text or voice — no app to learn, no account to manage, no writing assignment. Rooney uses their exact words and turns them into written chapters the whole family can read, alongside the photos of the days they’re describing. Up to 6 contributors can add to one story.
This is the difference between recording a parent’s story and keeping it. And it’s what a family story is for.
plain answers
Questions, answered straight.
What are the best questions to ask grandparents?
Specific ones about ordinary life: what an ordinary Tuesday looked like at ten, what the house smelled like, their first job and what it paid, how they met, what things cost, and what they hope you remember about them. Lists like the one on this page are a good place to start.
My grandparent won’t write anything down. What then?
Then don’t ask them to write. In Roon, contributors answer by text message or voice — they just reply, the way they’d reply to you. Rooney turns their words into chapters. No app, no login, no homework.
Should I record the answers or take notes?
Record the voice if you can — voices are irreplaceable — but make sure the words are written down too, somewhere they’ll actually be read. In Roon both happen: the voice is kept, and the answer becomes a written chapter.
Is it too late if my parent is already gone?
Some questions close, and we won’t pretend otherwise. But photos, letters, and the memories of everyone who knew them still hold a great deal — Roon chapters can be built from what the family still has, and the people who remember can answer for the record now.
We're building this with a small group of families first.
Roon isn't open to everyone yet. We're letting in a limited first group — people who'll help shape it, get in at founding pricing, and keep that price for as long as they stay. Add your email and we'll be in touch as spots open.
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