Lovely · private pilot
mornings · dinner · homework · bedtime

What Makes Great Parents

I'm Peter, co-founder of Prezi, the presentation platform used by over 180 million people. For over a year I've been working with the world's leading scientists to understand what makes great parents. I built Lovely for my own family first, before asking anyone else to trust it, and now we're opening a small, private pilot to a few families who want to be first. If that's you, I'd like you to apply.

Apply to the pilot Read why I built this
A note from Peter

Why I built Lovely

Many of us do our best to look ahead and improve our odds in life. We rely on technology, science and experts to improve our health, our career, our family's future, because we believe tomorrow can be better than today.

Why would we think that great parenting (perhaps the most consequential job of our lives) could be achieved based on guesswork?

We built Lovely because I wanted an answer to a small, ordinary question: on a normal Tuesday, are the things I'm doing with my kids actually what will help them thrive? Not in theory, but in my house, with my children, at dinner and at bedtime and in the ten minutes before homework falls apart.

Why? Because science has shown that the quality of our closest relationships is the strongest long-term predictor of happiness, health and success (Harvard, CDC). If that sounds like a lot, it's because it is.

Lovely is a parenting expert you can reach any time of day, with access to the world's leading family science, personalized to your family specifically. It pays attention to the routines that matter most, learns what is working in your home and what isn't, and turns decades of research into small, specific parenting guidance that is relevant to your family, not generic advice for kids in general. It introduces you to novel, scientifically proven approaches your family has never tried, and helps you nail the routines that shape a childhood, one small adjustment at a time.

I lived with it before I offered it to anyone. The routines, the guidance, the small adjustments, all of it, in my own family first. What I learned in my house is becoming the foundation for what Lovely can offer yours.

Here is what I believe. The biggest advantage you can give your child isn't another activity or tutor. It's a home where they are understood, encouraged, and supported every single day. Lovely helps you build that home, one small adjustment at a time, giving you the shortest path to raising more resilient, kinder, more successful children, according to the best science in the world.

Extraordinary children are often raised by parents who never stop learning. We'd like a few of those parents to build the next version of this with me.

Peter ArvaiFounder, Lovely
A note from Cheryl

On the science behind Lovely

I've spent my career studying what actually helps families, and I've watched a lot of parenting advice come and go with the seasons. I don't put my name on things I can't stand behind.

I'm part of Lovely because its guidance is built on decades of real behavioral research, and because I am the person accountable for keeping it honest. The approaches Lovely brings to families are not generic advice. They come from the frontier of family science, and most parents will never encounter them any other way. When Lovely tells you something, I want it to be something I would say to a family sitting across from me. That is the standard I hold this to, and the standard I'll keep holding it to as it grows.

Dr. Cheryl McNeilChief Science Officer, Lovely
Cheryl and Peter with their families
how it works

Lovely pays attention to the routines that shape a family's wellbeing, quietly, in the background of the life you're already living. For example:

Dinner
The highest-frequency moment of shared attention your family has. Small, specific guidance for what's working at the table.
Bedtime
The most emotionally loaded routine of the day, and the one most likely to reveal what your family needs more of.
Homework
Often a source of friction. Lovely helps you see it as a chance to build a child's confidence, not just get it done.
Play
The special moments for connection with your child where you get to understand the world as they see it. Small, specific guidance for building the strength of your relationship with your child within play and beyond.
a few minutes a day

A few minutes a day, reflected back.

You already know your family better than any recording could. This is a way to catch, in real detail, what's happening in your everyday moments together, both what's already working and what you're curious about.

A family at dinner with the Lovely recorder on the table

The Lovely device.

Lovely pilot comes with a recording device for your kitchen counter, it records conversations with a click of a button so that you don't fiddle with a phone. Nothing about your day changes except that it's captured. Afterward, the Lovely app shows you specific things: how your child worked through a feeling, how the two of you moved through a moment of friction, where warmth and connection already showed up. Over the eight weeks, you'll start to see how those moments shift. The device is yours to keep. It ships when your application is accepted.

Lovely app: Parenting Skills overview
Lovely app: Child Wellbeing overview
Lovely app: Responsive and Engaged Parenting detail
Lovely app: Getting Along Together detail

This is early. We built this with fifteen families in mind, and you'd be one of them. We want to know whether it's genuinely useful to your family in your own home, so tell us the truth about what you notice, including what doesn't work.

A small, private pilot

We're opening Lovely to a small number of families this season. You'll have direct access to Peter and Cheryl as we bring it to life. We read every application ourselves. We're looking for parents who want to be first, and who will tell us the truth about what's working and what isn't.

This pilot asks for about 60 days of real, everyday use. Lovely only works if you actually live with it, through the ordinary weeks and the hard ones. If the next two months aren't the right season for your family, this isn't the cohort for you, and that's a completely reasonable place to land. We'd rather have a few families who are all in than a long list who aren't.

invitation reviewed privacy-first built with leading family scientists
on privacy
i
Lovely listens to the routines you choose, in your own home. It's privacy-first by design, built with a clinical scientist who has spent her career studying real families. It only ever shows you things about your own family, never compares you to anyone, and never shares your data. The measurement is yours. The privacy is yours too.
Apply to the pilot
Participation costs $99. This doesn't cover the costs of the pilot, but we prefer working with families who are willing to have some skin in the game. The device ships when your application is accepted, yours to keep, regardless of what you think of the pilot.

Be one of the first families.

We read every application personally. Tell us a little about your family, and we'll be in touch if it's a fit for this cohort or the next.

We review applications personally and reach out if there's a fit. We never share your information. No spam, no third parties.

Thank you. This goes straight to us, not a queue. We read every application ourselves and will be in touch personally if there's a fit for this cohort or the next.