Our story
Keepers of Childhood is a family company. Katy had the idea. Jim built it. Everything on this site exists because we needed it in our own house first.
It was a weeknight. The kids were finally down, the kitchen was half-cleaned, and we were on the couch talking about the thing every parent eventually talks about: our children are getting wise. They’re clever enough to notice that the Tooth Fairy writes in Mom’s handwriting, and smart enough to see that Santa’s ‘S’ looks an awful lot like Dad’s. You can disguise it for a while. You can write with your left hand. But you are one observant child away from the whole thing coming apart, and you know it.
“I was writing a note from the Tooth Fairy at nine o’clock at night with my left hand, and I thought — this is ridiculous. I am hiding my own handwriting from a six-year-old. There has to be something better than this.”
— Katy
So we went looking for it. And everything available was either a subscription box, a pile of ads, a site that wanted our children’s data, or a template that looked like a tax form. Nothing that felt like it came from the person it was supposed to come from. Nothing you would keep.
“Katy jokingly challenged, “You build things for a living — build this.” And then she kept brainstorming, and by the end of the night, she had the whole thing: the letters, the keepers, the printables, the scrapbook. I just wrote it down. She designed it aloud on a couch.”
— Jim
Every detail on this site traces back to that conversation. The letters are typed and printed so nobody recognizes the handwriting. There are hundreds of coloring pages and free printables because we wanted paper on the table, not another app. The Grow Book lives on your own phone, encrypted, because we are not willing to hold other people’s children’s photographs on terms we would not accept for our own.
There are no ads on the site. There is a Kid Safe Mode that hides every letter and keeper, so a child can be handed the tablet and find nothing that spoils anything. We do not sell data, because it is not ours to sell.
“The rule I follow for everything we add is simple: Would I put this in front of my own kids, and would I still be proud of it in ten years? If the answer is no, it does not go on Keepers.”
— Katy
The newest thing we made came from the same place. Every Santa letter in the world arrives before Christmas, in a pile with the catalogs. We wanted one that turns up in the quiet week afterwards, when nothing else does, when the excitement of the holidays is just suddenly...over. Surprise them with a letter that asks if they’re enjoying their gifts, if they’re still being kind to their younger brother, how they’re holding up after that hard thing last year.
You can see it here: a real letter in the mail.
Our goal for you is our goal for our own parenting journey. Join us as we cherish magical moments, protect innocence, preserve memories, and spread joy.
Katy & Jim Cloonan · The Compendium Company, LLC
Free, always
Everything described on this page is free to write and free to print — the letters, the printables, the scrapbook pages. An account remembers your children so the second letter takes a minute.
A free account, not a trial. No card, and we will not email you about anything you did not ask for.
Keepers by The Compendium Company, LLC