First Day of School

Another prompt for writing your story:
How did you feel about your first day of school?
Do you remember your first day of school?  I'm not sure that I remember the first day, but I do remember things about my early school years.  I remember being excited because of the new things I would do, but I also remember being very nervous and scared because I was afraid I wouldn't know what to do or I would do something wrong.
Did you go to Kindergarten or was first grade your first experience with school?  Did you meet your teacher before you started school or was the first day of school the first day you met your teacher?  Did you know a lot of the other kids in the class or did you not know very many of the kids or maybe not even know any of the other kids in the class?  Did you have older brothers or sisters going to the same school?  Did you walk to school or did you ride the bus?  Did you take a lunch or did you eat in the school lunchroom?  Did you find your way to the classroom, the bathroom and the lunchroom okay or did you get lost?
Describe what your school was like.  How many classrooms were there?  How many teachers were there?  Describe your teacher.  Who else was in your classrom?  What did you do at recess?
What was your favorite thing about school?  What was your least favorite thing?  What do you remember most about school?

I went to Kindergarten for a couple of months the summer before I started first grade.  I remember taking a mat to take a nap on and having snacks.  I don't remember the teacher.  I do remember graduating and getting a diploma with nursery rhymes around the edges.  As I start to think about my school experiences I could write many pages about them.  
As you write you will probably think of a lot more to write.  Add your school pictures to your story.  If you have any of your papers from school add them too.  School is a significant part of your childhood and writing about it will add a great deal to your story.

What Frightens You and Why?

Here is another question to help you write your story:
What frightens you and why?
Change has often been frightening to me.  The first day of school was always frightening because of all the new things.  I didn't know what the teacher would expect.  I didn't know for sure who else would be in my classroom.  In grade school I even found going down the slide or swinging very high to be scary since I hadn't done either all summer.   In junior high and high school and in college I would worry about finding the classroom and getting to class on time.  Even as an adult things like going for a job interview or starting a new job are scary. Of course things that can hurt me are scary.  Badgers scare me after seeing one charge my dad.  Rattlesnakes, scorpions, black widow spiders all scare me.

Image by: George Marler - NPS Photo

If you list all the things you are afraid of and why, you will add a lot to your story.  It might give you a little insight into yourself too.  Then write down what other members of your family are afraid of and why they are afraid.

Describe a favorite childhood toy

Here is another prompt for writing your story:
Describe a favorite childhood toy.
Write down what toys you remember from your childhood.  Keep photos that may show some of the toys you had.  I don't have many pictures of toys I had from my childhood.  But I can take photos of toys my kids have and keep those even though the toys may break and be thrown away or may be given away.  The memories will always be there.  Write down how you played with the toys.  My brother and I would line up all the dolls and stuffed animals we had on a bed, and then we would pretend to be in a bus or an airplane and all the dolls and stuffed animals were the passengers.  Do you know of toys your parents had?  Record what kinds of toys they had.

 

What Foods Don't You Like?

What foods don't you like?
Answering this question and adding to it why you don't like certain foods will expose a lot about your life.  Perhaps you ate too much of a certain food and got sick.  Now you associate being sick with that food.  Perhaps eating some foods reminds you of other bad experiences that happened coincidentally at the same time as eating a certain food.  Maybe you just don't like the taste, the smell, or the feel of certain foods.

Then reverse the question and answer what foods you really like and why.  Many of the foods we really like will be associated with good memories from our childhood or a good experience we've had later on in life.  I liked the cookies in the picture above that look like witch's fingers.  They tasted really good, but some people I shared them with thought they looked too real.  I like green peas straight from the garden.  They taste the best if you eat them right out of the pod even while you're standing in the garden.  Maybe they taste so good because they're one of the first vegetables ready to eat from the garden.  I love the taste of apricots.  I loved harvesting the fruit and even helping my mother can as we got to eat some of the apricots as we worked.  

Write down the foods you don't like and the foods you do like.  Include why you don't like them and why you do like them.  Record the recipes to add even more to your story.
  

What was your first job like?

Here's another question to help you write your story.
What was your first job like?
People vary  in when they started working their first job.  Some may not get a job until they graduate from high school or even from college.  Some get part time work during high school.  Some start a newspaper route as a child.  Some set up a lemonade stand and sell lemonade.
I felt that I always had a job as my help was needed on our farm.  From as far back as I can remember I had chores to do like help gather eggs, feed the chickens, pull weeds in the garden, harvest the vegetables and the fruit from the orchard, herd the cow back to the corral, even try to milk the cow (which I wasn't successful at).  
I didn't get a "job" until the summer after I finished my Associate's degree at our local community college.  Since my mother's death when I was in high school I tried to take her place in the family business.  I couldn't do all that she did, but I tried while I went to school.  I decided to get a job the summer before I would be going away to a university to finish my education.  
I took the Civil Service exam for summer hires and I got hired for summer work.  Those typing and office practice classes came in handy just as my mother had said they would.
Write down what your first job was like.  It will probably lead you into writing about all the other jobs you've had in your life.  You'll have a great start on your story. 

What were your family traditions for birthdays?

Here is another question to help you write your family story.
What were your family traditions for birthdays?
When I was growing up we always had cake and ice cream for birthdays.  It was usually just a family time.  My parents would gave us a little money on our birthday and take us to a store.  We were allowed to pick out whatever we wanted to buy with the money.  My mother would bake a cake and frost it and put candles on it.  After blowing out the candles and making a wish we would have cake and ice cream.  I had one birthday party where I invited friends to come when I turned eight years old.
With my children I allowed more frequent birthday parties.  Most birthdays were still just family occasions with cake and ice cream, blowing out candles, and opening presents.  It was fun to create cakes that looked like castles or teddy bears or other fun things.  

As everyone in our family has gotten older birthdays aren't looked forward too as much.  Sometimes we would just rather forget another year has come around.  For my 50th birthday one daughter wrote 50 characteristics she liked about me.  She wasn't able to be there on my birthday, so she got her younger sister to blow up 50 balloons with little pieces of paper with the characteristics written on them in each balloon.  That was a memorable birthday popping all the balloons and reading the slips of paper.  
Some people do a lot for birthdays and some just have cake and ice cream.  One family I knew had a birthday week.  Every day of the week they would do something special for the person with the birthday.  They had decorations outside of the house that let everyone know someone had a birthday.  
Writing down how you celebrated birthdays and what you remember the most can add a lot to your family story.  

Describe a Perfect Spring Day--Another Question for Your Story

Here's another question for writing your story.
Describe a perfect spring day and what you did.
This prompt could probably stir up many memories.  You will probably remember springtime as a child, as a teenager and as an adult.  There will probably be very happy days and there will probably be very sad days.  There are holidays such as Easter, St. Patrick's Day, Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day and all the things you did.  Once you start writing you may find it hard to stop as more and more ideas come to you.  

Most of my memories of springtime are of beautiful warm days with fruit trees in blossom and flowers starting to bloom and planting a garden.   
Some of my memories are sad such as when my mother died and twenty four years later when my dad died.
Write down your memories and keep on adding.  As spring approaches you will probably think of more, so keep on writing.