A memorial ring for a son or daughter is the hardest design in this guide, and the usual rules bend here. The only real standard is that the ring should feel like them, at whatever age they were, and be gentle enough to live on your hand.
The strongest source details for a child are almost always something they made or left: a handprint or footprint, a crayon drawing, their name written in their own hand, a stick-figure family portrait, or the way they signed a school paper.
For infants lost early, hospitals often provide hand and foot prints. These translate beautifully to a band, cropped to one small print rather than both. Their name, birth date, and a single word are usually all the text the design needs.
For older children and adult children, their actual handwriting, a doodle they always drew, a jersey number, an instrument, or a phrase from their texts can lead the design. Parents often say the detail that helps most is the one that still sounds like their voice.
Nicknames outlive formal names. "Bug," "Bear," or whatever you actually called them, engraved inside where only you know it is there, is a choice many parents return to.
Symbols borrowed from their world work when kept small: a dinosaur from a favorite shirt, a soccer ball, a butterfly they chased, a mountain from a trip. One symbol, simplified, with space around it.
Some parents want the ring visible and recognized; others want it completely private, readable only to themselves. Both are valid, and deciding which one you need settles most of the placement and sizing questions.
If siblings or the other parent want their own version, the same source detail can anchor multiple rings with different bands and finishes, so the family shares the memory without wearing identical jewelry.
Do not rush past the drawing or print quality. Photograph the original flat, in daylight, and keep the highest-resolution version. The imperfections are the point; they should survive into the engraving.
When you are ready, and only then, bring their name, dates, the print or drawing file, and one line about them into the Friends of Irony designer. The first version does not need to be the final one.