How to Set Up an Email Account for Your Baby That Lasts Until 18
November 2, 2026 · Kalvis
The short answer: create an email address for your child, send it a line and a photo now and then, and hand over the login when they're grown. It's free and each email takes a minute. The hard parts are keeping the account alive for 18 years and knowing what to write. That's most of this post.
I've lost count of the times a good moment passed and I didn't write it down. It feels like missing the best bits of my own life. I make a memory app for dads, and for this post I set up a supervised Family Link account and went through the setup steps myself.
What is an email time capsule?
An email time capsule is an inbox you write to on your child's behalf while they grow up. You send it notes, photos and the odd longer letter. They can't read it yet. One day you hand it over, and they get years of their childhood told by someone who was there.
Every message is dated, and you can write one from your phone in the supermarket queue. Try doing that with a shoebox.
How to set one up
In short: make a supervised Gmail account through Google Family Link with your child's real birthday, give it a plain name-based address, sign in twice a year, download a backup, and keep the password where your partner can find it. The details:
1. Pick a provider
Gmail, set up through Family Link, is the best free choice for most parents. It lets two years pass between sign-ins before deletion, while the others allow one, and Family Link makes setting up a child's account simple. Here's how four popular providers compare, from their own terms and help pages, checked in October 2026:
| Provider | Can be deleted after no sign-in for | Free storage | Account for a young child |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gmail | 2 years | 15 GB, shared with Drive and Photos | Yes, Family Link |
| Outlook.com | 1 year | 15 GB for mail, attachments use 5 GB OneDrive | Yes, Microsoft Family Safety |
| iCloud Mail | 1 year | 5 GB, shared with phone backups | Yes, Family Sharing |
| Proton Mail (free) | 1 year | Up to 1 GB | No, 13+ only |
If you'd rather not depend on one company, you can buy a domain (your family name, if it's free) and give your child an address on it. The cheapest registrars charge about €10 ($11) a year for a .com, most charge more, and you still need a mailbox behind it, either paid hosting or forwarding to a free inbox with the same deletion rules. The upside is that you can move the mailbox between providers and keep the address. The catch is that if you ever forget to renew, someone else can register the domain and receive your kid's mail. If you go this way, pay for 10 years upfront and turn on auto-renew.
2. Make the account properly: Family Link and their real birthday
Don't open a normal Gmail account for your baby with a made-up birth date. Plenty of guides suggest it, but Google's minimum age is 13, or up to 16 in some countries, mostly in Europe, and Google says an account may be disabled if it was opened with a birth date below that. Losing the account in year nine is the one thing a time capsule can't survive.
Instead, open the Family Link app (or the normal Google sign-up page, signed in as yourself) and create a supervised account for your child with their real birthday. You approve it from your own Google account. Your child doesn't need a phone or tablet for this. Under Google's current rules, your child needs your approval to stop supervision until they turn 18. The first time you sign in to their account on a computer, Family Link asks you to approve it from your own account.
Decide early whether this is their everyday account or only the capsule. If they'll use it on their first phone, it won't stay a surprise. I'd keep the capsule separate and set up a different account when they need one of their own.
3. Choose an address that will still be fine at 18
Use their first and last name, maybe with their birth year. Skip anything cute. "little.bean.2024" is lovely now and mortifying at fifteen.
4. Keep the account alive (sending it email isn't enough)
Google's examples of activity are all things someone does while signed in: reading or sending email, using Drive, searching. If nobody does that for two years, Google can delete the account and everything in it.
So sign in on their birthday, and again at New Year. Twice a year keeps you well inside even the one-year limits. While you're signed in, open a message or send one, and download a backup with Google Takeout to a drive at home.
Watch the size of what you send, too. If you send from Gmail, a message with more than 25 MB of attachments has them turned into a Drive link that lives in your account, and that link breaks if your account ever goes. Photos from your phone are fine. Long videos aren't.
5. Store the password where it will survive you
Put the login in your password manager and share it with your partner. Write it on paper too, and keep it with your important documents. If something happens to you, someone else should be able to find it.
If the account lets you, turn on two-step verification and print the backup codes to keep with the password, because your phone number may change in 18 years. If you ever reset the password from Family Link, Google switches two-step verification off, so turn it back on. This inbox will hold your child's full name, birthday, school and photos, so treat it like a bank account. Google's Inactive Account Manager can also send a copy of an account's data to a person you choose if it goes quiet. Check whether it's available on the child's account.
6. Set a reminder
A monthly reminder on your phone is enough. Some months you'll write five times, some not at all.
The twice-a-year checklist
On their birthday and at New Year:
- Sign in, and open or send a message.
- Download a backup and save it to a drive at home.
- Check you're under the storage limit.
- Check the password is still in your password manager, and on paper with your documents.
- If you use your own domain, check auto-renew and the card on file.
What to write: 30 prompts by age
The account is the easy part. The hard part is opening a blank email at 10pm with nothing in your head. So write one specific line about this week and, if you have one, a photo. Here's what a whole email can look like, from a made-up family:
Subject: The moon is a lamp
You pointed at the moon tonight and said "lamp". Then you said "off". You were very annoyed when it didn't go off.
That's it. Put the story in the subject line, so you can search for it later. If you're stuck, do one of these 5-minute activities together and write about that. Or use one of these:
Babies (0–12 months)
- What they looked like asleep tonight.
- The noise they make when they're happy.
- A normal day right now, from the first feed to the last.
- Who came to meet them, and what they said.
- What you were worried about this week, and whether it turned out fine.
- The song that works when nothing else does.
Toddlers (1–3 years)
- Their newest word, and how they say it wrong.
- The thing they insist on doing themselves.
- What they called you this week.
- Their favourite food, and the food they threw on the floor.
- The game they make you play over and over.
- The tantrum of the week, and what set it off.
Small kids (4–7 years)
- The funniest thing they said. Write it down word for word, today, because you won't remember it exactly.
- What they want to be when they grow up this month. Write down the reason. The reasons are the good part.
- Who their best friend is.
- What scares them right now, and how you handled it.
- A question they asked that you couldn't answer.
- What an ordinary Tuesday is like. Nobody photographs those.
Big kids (8–12 years)
- Something they did that made you proud when nobody else was watching.
- What they're obsessed with right now.
- An argument you had, and how you made up.
- Something they taught you.
- Something they said about the news that made you stop and look at them.
- The thing they're practising, and how many times they've wanted to quit.
Teens (13+)
- Something about them that surprised you this month.
- A conversation in the car you want to remember.
- Something you got wrong as a parent, and what you'd do differently.
- What you were like at their age.
- One habit of theirs you hope they never grow out of.
- The thing you'd want them to know if you weren't around to say it.
How often should you write?
Aim for one short note a week, or at least one a month. A line a week gives them more than one long letter a year, because the small stuff is what nobody else will remember. Few people remember what their dad wrote in their seventh birthday card. They'd love to know what they had for breakfast that day.
If you miss a few months, don't try to catch up. Write tonight.
My own habit: I don't write the emails myself. Every night or every other night, just before I go to sleep, I fill in the day in Dadaa, the app I built. I fall asleep remembering the good bits.
What if you have more than one kid?
Give each child their own account. It's tempting to write one email and send it to both, but in 18 years each of them will want the story where they're the main character. When something happens to both of them, write it twice, from each one's side. It takes an extra minute.
Keep it private
A private inbox is the opposite of posting your kid online. France's data-protection authority, the CNIL, strongly advises parents against sharing photos of their children on social networks (page in French). UNICEF's advice on sharenting makes the same point about embarrassing stories and details like school logos. With a capsule, your kid decides at 18 what, if anything, goes public.
A few rules:
- Don't put the address anywhere public, and don't use it to sign up for anything. Only you and people you trust should ever send to it.
- Think before writing things your kid might not want written down: medical details, school trouble, family fights. They'll read this one day.
- If you ever share a photo outside the capsule, cover their face with an emoji first.
When should you hand it over?
Eighteen is the obvious age. You could also wait for a moment: when they leave home, or when they have a kid of their own. Some parents hand it over early and keep writing anyway, which works too.
Give it in person. Print the first email and put it in a card with the login. Then change the recovery phone and email to theirs, and end your supervision. It's their account now.
The easier way, if you'd rather not manage an inbox
For a busy dad, the days go by fast, and even the good moments run together. I know this stage will be over in a few years, once the kids grow up. I wanted something to help me keep the good moments, so I can look back at them one day, and my kids can too when they're grown.
That's why I built Dadaa. You write a line about your kid most days, add a photo if you have one, and tap a mood. Dadaa turns your weeks (and, on the paid Keeper plan, your months) into PDF keepsakes called Chronicles, with your diary, photos and a mood calendar.
Save your kid's email address in the app and Dadaa sends that inbox a one-time link first. Open it and click it yourself; nothing is sent until you do. After that you can send any Chronicle you've unlocked with a tap. Very photo-heavy ones are too big to email, so you download those instead. It arrives from hello@dadaa.app as a PDF attachment, with a subject line like "A week from when you were little" or "A month from when you were little". Sending to your kid is free on every plan, one a day on the free plan. On the paid Keeper plan, Dadaa emails you a link when each new Chronicle is ready, so you know when there's something to send. You still need the inbox from step 1, and you still press send. Dadaa just gives you something nicer than a forwarded photo to put in it. Here's how Dadaa handles your data, and if you're weighing up apps, here's how the main memory journal apps for dads compare.
Frequently asked questions
Can I create a Gmail account for my baby?
Yes, through Google Family Link, as a supervised account with their real birthday. Don't sign up for a normal account with a made-up birth date. Google says accounts opened with a birth date below the minimum age may be disabled, and that minimum is 13, or up to 16 in some countries.
What if I already made a Gmail with a fake birthday?
Don't change the birthday on the account. Google may disable an account if it learns the owner is under the minimum age. Instead, download everything with Google Takeout, make a proper Family Link account with the real birthday, and forward the emails you want to keep into it. Keep signing in to the old account until you've moved everything.
Does sending emails to the account keep it active?
Don't count on it. Google's examples of activity are all things done while signed in, like reading or sending email or using Drive. Sign in to your child's account at least twice a year. Gmail can delete accounts that haven't been used for 2 years, and Outlook.com, iCloud and Proton Mail's free plan can close them after 1 year.
At what age should I give my child the email password?
18 is a popular choice. Choose an age when they'll appreciate it, not just the one when they're legally an adult. With a Family Link account, 18 is also when Google stops requiring your approval to end supervision.
Can I schedule an email to arrive on my child's 18th birthday?
You can try, but don't rely on it. Gmail lets you queue up to 100 scheduled emails and doesn't say how far ahead you can schedule them. A scheduled email sits in your account until it's sent, so if your account goes, it never arrives. Services like FutureMe deliver letters years ahead, but only if the service and the address both still exist.
Can grandparents and family email it too?
Yes. Ask grandparents, godparents and close friends to write once: what they thought the first time they met your child. Only give the address to people you trust.
What if we're separated?
If you get on, share the login with the other parent so you can both write. If you don't, each of you can keep your own capsule. Your kid gets two versions of their childhood, which isn't a bad thing.
Is it safe to email photos of my kids?
A private inbox that only you can open is far safer than posting online. Use a strong password and two-step verification on the account. The real risk is in public places: social media, shared albums with open links, school group chats.
What if I forget to write for months?
Start again tonight. Don't apologise in the email and don't try to fill the gap. They'll read what's there. Nobody counts the gaps.