New Year's Interview

While we don't have many strict traditions for Christmas, our New Year's Eve is very predictable. I look forward to the day when we can actually watch movies that we all want to watch. Right now the kids get to pick it and I had to endure the Rubber Dubbers two years in a row... this year it was Clone Wars.

One ritual we have is the New Year's Eve Interview. I don't know where I found this idea or where the questions came from, but I ask the kids the same questions every year and record their responses. Then I store them in some unknown place and lose them. But as soon as I find them all I can put them together and see how the kids' responses have changed (or not!) over the years.

Here are the questions I ask them every year:
1. I am lucky because...
2. If I could have three wishes they would be...
3. I'm a little afraid of...
4. I would describe myself as...
5. My favorite time this year was...
6. If I could change one thing it would be...
7. My favorite things are...
8. This year I hope I...

There's still time today to start this tradition with your own kids. I think it's one of those things that I'll be really glad I did as the years go by (provided I do a better job of keeping their answers in a more memorable spot).

Here's a few tips:

• Interview the kids separately. One will assuredly just repeat his brother's answers if they are in the same room.
• Write down everything they say. Don't edit or correct them.
• Young kids have a hard time coming up with adjectives for themselves. Give them a few suggestions.
• Favorite things can be as big of a list as they want. Include toys, activities, people and places.
• Store the answers in the same spot/journal/photo box every year. ;-)