A Letter to Your Child, Delivered the Day They're Grown

Children grow faster than anyone can keep up with. Today they're asleep in your arms; blink, and they're walking through the school gate without looking back. Every parent has had the thought: I wish I could keep this exact moment — who they are right now, who I am right now — and hand it to them when they're grown. Photos and videos capture how things looked, but not what's in your heart: the beautiful chaos of the day they were born, the tears when they first said "mama," everything you hope for them and everything you can't bear to let go. Here, you can put all of it in a letter and have it delivered on their eighteenth birthday, their graduation day, or any day you choose. When it arrives, they'll be holding a letter from many years ago, signed by a younger you. Below are letters some parents have chosen to share. What it feels like to love a child — written down, it becomes the longest-lasting gift you can give.

How to write this letter

  • Describe them exactly as they are today: how tall, the phrase they repeat all day, how they sleep. The details you're sure you'll never forget are the first to go.
  • Tell a story only you know: what happened the day they were born, how you chose their name. Stories land better in a letter than in a retelling years later.
  • Write your hopes — but as hopes, not demands. Tell them that whoever they become, the love in this letter doesn't change.
  • Write about yourself, too: your age, your work, what's worrying you these days. The grown-up version of them will be dying to meet the you of today.

Real letters from the vault

77 public letters

Frequently Asked Questions

My child doesn't have an email or phone yet. How does this work?

Send it to your own inbox and hand it over in person on delivery day — or keep the letter's 6-digit claim code and give it to them when they're older; the code alone unlocks the letter.

Will it really still arrive, a decade or more from now?

Yes. On delivery day the system sends an email and a text automatically, with the claim code as a final backstop. Delivery within a year is free; longer terms are a one-time fee from ¥3.9 up to ¥19.9 — no subscriptions, ever.

What age should I send it to?

The eighteenth birthday is the classic — the day they come of age. Some parents write one every birthday and build a whole shelf of growing-up letters.

Can anyone else read what I write?

No. Letters are private by default — only the recipient can open one, via the link or the claim code. Every letter you see on this page was made public by its writer on purpose.

A Letter to Your Child, Delivered the Day They're Grown

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