In childhood,
we press our nose to the pane, looking out.
In memories of childhood,
we press our nose to the pane, looking in.
~Robert Brault
Let's use CHILDHOOD as our theme this week and next and do some thinking about children's stories--both your own and fictional ones you might write for kids.
Please choose some of these questions to answer in a New Post on your blog of at least 300 words. Rather than answering many of them with short, surface answers, go into more detail about just a few. Include images with your writing if you can.
You could answer others in your journal, too. You should have at least 20 new pages by the end of next week.
When you've finished your own, please leave a friendly and specific comment on 3 of your classmates' childhood blog posts.
I'm posting grades for progress reports before I leave school today, so be sure you're caught up.
1. What is your most poignant childhood memory? The one that sticks out the most? Write out as much as you can remember and then fill in the details with elaborate description.
2. Who was the most important person to you during most of your childhood? Your mom? Your dad? Another relative? A friend? An imaginary person? Show some examples in which you see how much influence this person (or imaginary person) had on you while you were growing up.
3. It seems like when you are a kid growing up you can't wait to get there and when you are a grown up you wish you could be back. Imagine one day in which you are granted adulthood as a child, and one day in which you are granted childhood as an adult. How do you utilize these 24 hour periods?
4. We all have that friend we had in childhood who later moved into a different popularity scale in middle or high school. Who was that friend and what did you two enjoy so much together when you were little?
5. What did you and your family do for entertainment when you were little? Did you play board games together? Go to movies? Go into extreme detail of a family fun night of some kind.
6. What cartoon from your childhood is the most memorable for you? What made it stick in your head so strongly? Would you see a movie of it now if were made into a big blockbuster for the nostalgia purposes?
7. What action makes you the most nostalgic for your childhood? Is it seeing old pictures or going through old clothes? Something else entirely? Write a story of you going through those nostalgic actions and having various memories of your childhood.
8. How do you recall getting along with your family during your childhood? With your parents, siblings, and other relatives? Go though a typical reunion or holiday with your entire family in attendance during your childhood. Have fun going into excruciating detail.
9. Is there something you know now you wish you knew when you were a kid? Is there something you’ve come to know that you wish you didn’t?
10. It's your birthday! Pick a party that you had during your childhood or create an ideal birthday party for yourself at any young age and write a story about it.
11. You have been given the opportunity to go backwards. You can pick an age and start over again from that age. Do you pick one or not? What age would you go to? Describe your first week with your "old person" memories in your younger body.
12. Describe any childhood ailments or injuries you had.
13. Describe your favorite toy. What did it look like? How did it feel?
14. Describe your favorite books growing up. What made them special to you?
15. Describe your favorite game growing up.
16. Describe your nemesis growing up. Who made your life miserable and what did he/she do to make your life so rough?
17. Describe your favorite foods as a child. What did you eat then that you no longer eat?
18. What was the biggest trouble you got into as a child? Describe what you did or didn’t do to deserve what happened to you.
19. What was your greatest childhood accomplishment? How did it make you feel? What influence do you think it has had on your life since?
20. Describe what you did or where you went as a child when you wanted to feel safe.
21. Describe your personality as a child. In what ways has it changed as you’ve gotten older? In what ways has it stayed the same?
22. How has your opinion of your parents changed as you’ve grown older?
23. Describe your most interesting relative.
24. Describe something that people would be surprised to know about your childhood.
25. Describe some of the cultural influences in your childhood. Do you know your heritage?
26. Describe the home you grew up in. If you lived in several different homes, describe one or discuss the reasons for the frequent moves. Were you moving up or working your way down?
27. Describe one of your first away-from-home experiences.
28. Describe a smell that you remember from growing up.
29. What was your favorite family dinner as a child?
30. Talk about a time when you were grounded.
31. At what age did you learn to ride a bicycle?
32. What did you want to be when you grew up?
33. When you were a child, how did you imagine your teenage life? Your adult life?
34. Describe someone who taught you to believe in yourself.
35. What frightening dream do you remember from your childhood?
36. What did you not like about your childhood?
37. Recall one of your favorite childhood movies.
38. What did you collect as a child? What did you like about these items
39. Write about a photo of yourself as a child...
