HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR FOLKS?

Kids, you may live with your parents, spend hours a day with them and talk to them all the time. Still, it’s a good bet there’s plenty you don’t about them. Think not? Grab a pencil or pen and try to answer these questions about your folks’ past and present, their likes and dislikes, their preferences and opinions.

See how much - or how little - you’ve learned in all your years with them. You won’t find the answers here. Only your parents can grade your test.

Remember: Knowing - wanting to find out - about someone shows that you truly care. What’s more, it can be fun. If you get more than 30 right, congratulations! You really know your folks. From 22 to 31? No bad. But try to pay a little more attention. Fewer than 22? You need a crash course called “Mom and Dad 101.” Ask your parents:

1. How did your parents meet?

2. What color are your father’s eyes?

3. Can you name at least one of your mother’s old boyfriends?

4. Which does your father most dislike about doing dishes: washing them, drying them or putting them away?

5. If your mother went on a trip to a foreign city, would she head first to a historic site or museum, the shopping streets or a café?

6. For a vacation, would your father prefer a week at a luxury resort, two weeks at a rustic mountain cabin or resting at home?

7. Which team did your mother vote for in the presidential election of 1976: Carter-Mondale, Ford-Dole, other, didn’t vote?

8. How much does your father weight (within 5 pounds)?

9. Can you name the high school each of your parents attended?

10. Does your mother believe in love at first sight?

11. Do you know your father’s boss’s name (first name)?

12. Which of the following films has your mother seen: “Kramer vs Kramer:, “Gone with the Wind”, “Dracula”, “Norma Rae”, National Velvet”?

13. For a pleasant evening, would your father rather watch TV with the family, sit alone and read, or go out to a show or dinner with your mother and another couple?

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14. What kind of salad dressing does your mother usually order in a restaurant?

15. Does your father gas up the car as soon as the tank is half empty or when the fuel is nearly gone?

16. Ho many rings does your mother usually wear?

17. Does your father usually carry a photo of your mother in his wallet?

18. Who does your mother think is funnier - Steve Martin or Bob Hope (or doesn’t she care for either)?

19. How old was your mother on her first date?

20. Did your father have any pets as a child? If so, it was a that was named

.

21. If your mother turned on the television and found these three choices, which would she pick: a football game, a soap opera, a very old movie or would she turn off the set?

22. If your father could watch only one television show a week, which show would he choose?

23. Can you give bother your grandmothers’ maiden names?

24. Which of these can’t your mother do: touch her toes, do a head stand, rewire a lamp, add a quart of oil to the car?

25. How often does your father wash his hair?

26. How often does your mother generally shop for groceries?

27. What was your father’s first full-time job?

28. Can you name your father’s barber (or the shop where he goes)?

29. Do you know what book your mother read most recently?

30. What’s your father’s favorite ice-cream flavor?

31. Would your mother prefer an ice-cream soda, a milkshake, a hot fudge sundae of a strawberry shortcake?

32. If your father won a million-dollar lottery, would he stop working, take some time off but plan to return to work, or keep on working as though nothing had happened?

33. What’s the last present either parent gave the other?

34. What city was your mother born in?

35. What are your grandfathers’ first and middle names (both grandfathers)?