You already know your mother’s stories. You will be surprised how many you don’t.
Once a week for six weeks, a trained Companion sits with your parent by video and asks about their life. What comes out of those conversations is yours to keep: a printed book in their own words, a film in their own voice, and every story they tell.
What the visits are like
An aide brings a tablet to your parent’s room, taps one button, and leaves. Your parent does nothing else — no account, no password, nothing to learn, and nothing they can be locked out of.
Each visit covers one chapter of a life, in order: childhood and hometown, school, work, how they met their sweetheart, raising a family, the hardest year, and what they want passed on. The conversations are unhurried and gently guided, and they are between your parent and their Companion — which is exactly why people say things they have never said to their own children.
In the last visit, your parent records messages for particular people and particular moments: a grandchild’s wedding, a graduation years away, a Christmas they may not be there for.
What your family keeps
- A printed hardcover book of their life in their own words, with your family’s photographs in it.
- A film narrated in their own recorded voice, screened for your family at their presentation.
- Every story, one at a time — each short clip yours to watch, download and share from the portal, free, for as long as you want it.
- The complete recordings of every visit, and an archive you can download in ordinary formats at any time.
All of that is included. Every chapter, every clip, every photograph and the whole archive stay free for your family, there is no subscription, and no card is kept.
One optional package, offered once at the presentation and never a condition of keeping the story, adds three things: a copy of the film to keep and watch again; their stories arriving on their own for years, on the days that matter and on days nobody expected; and the messages they recorded for particular people, delivered on the dates they chose. Your coordinator will walk you through it.
How your family takes part
The visits work even if your family does nothing. But two small things make them much better. Each week we ask for photographs tied to that week’s chapter — snap them with your phone, creases and all — and they appear on screen while your parent tells the story behind them.
And grandchildren can send questions, asked on camera by name. Those produce the best moments of the whole series, and the answers come back addressed to the child who asked. Children take part only through a parent’s account; we never collect anything directly from a child.
At the end there is a presentation at your parent’s community: the film is screened, your parent signs copies of their own book, and the family comes.
What your parent controls
Any question can be passed, with no explanation and nothing asked twice. If a conversation goes somewhere private, your parent can have it kept out of the book, the film and the clips — or ask the Companion to stop recording, which happens immediately. Sessions end early whenever energy fades.
This is the part families end up most grateful for. Your parent is not being interviewed for anyone else’s benefit. They are telling their story, their way, to someone they have come to trust.
Privacy, in plain language
- Nothing is recorded without written consent from your parent or their legal representative. The software will not start a recording without it.
- A person reviews every chapter and clip before anyone in your family sees it.
- Nothing is public and nothing is searchable. Your family’s stories are never sold, and never used to train AI systems.
- Where a scene from a story is painted rather than photographed, it is always labelled as an artistic recreation. Your own photographs are never altered.
- The archive belongs to your family permanently, and you can download all of it, free, at any time.
How to start
Most families begin by asking the community where their parent lives.
steve@dearfamilyarchive.com
If your parent’s community is considering this, the page written for them is here.