A life story gift for a parent or grandparent
The best gift for an older relative is often the chance to be asked. Most people are rarely asked about their own lives, and are glad to be, once someone shows they want to know. Give them a way to tell it, a little at a time. Then make sure what they say is kept where the whole family can find it.
What makes it a good gift
- It asks nothing difficult. Talking about the people you knew is easier than writing a memoir.
- It goes at their pace. A question a week is plenty.
- It lasts. What they say should still be there for great-grandchildren who have not been born yet.
- It stays with the family, easy for everyone to find and to add to.
The usual choices
A book of answers. Some services send a question each week for a year and print the answers as a book. Others record spoken answers and print a code beside each story that plays the voice. A book is a lovely thing to hold. But the answers stay in the book, apart from the family’s tree and records. We compare two of them, StoryWorth and Remento.
A recorded interview. An afternoon with a recorder or a phone, asking the questions yourself. It costs nothing and keeps their voice. The hard part is what happens to the recording afterwards.
A family record. A private place where what they say is kept beside the people they talk about, with the records that prove the dates. The rest of the family add to it too.
How to give Heirstory
Heirstory is free to build, so there is nothing to buy before you begin. The gift is starting their family’s record, and giving them credits for conversations with Gene, an AI genealogist.
- Start the family yourself. Add your parent or grandparent to the tree, with whatever you know.
- Give them credits. From your own account, give credits you have bought to a living relative on your tree, with a message. If they have not joined yet, Heirstory invites them, and the gift waits for them.
- Sit with them the first time. Let them talk while Gene asks. A spoken sitting uses credits by the minute, and shows about how many before it starts.
What they tell Gene is kept as their own story, in their own words, beside the people it is about. They decide what the rest of the family see.
Questions
What if they never join?
A gift waits up to 30 days for them to join. If they have not joined by then, the credits come back to you, and you can take a gift back while it is still waiting.
Is it a good gift for someone who does not use computers?
It can be, with help. Spoken sittings are in a web browser, so they will need someone beside them at first. If they would only ever use the telephone, a service that calls them may suit them better.
Can several of us give together?
Yes. Any member can put credits they have bought into one of their families’ pools. The family’s members draw on it once their own credits are used up, and the family’s own research draws on it first.
Is there a book to wrap?
No. Heirstory does not print books. For now the gift is the invitation, the credits, and the first sitting together.