Many people say it has become harder to manage children in this dominant technology time. But I believe it’s because they are not fully taking advantage of the technological advances. Just take the example of your smartphone; it can handle half of your child’s needs automatically. As a father of three, I have always used different apps to make it easier to manage my children. Whether it’s to soothe the baby, monitor the child’s nutrition, or manage their screen time, an app is available to take care of it all. Below I have created a list of apps for parents of kids of all ages. So whether you are a new parent or a concerned parent of teens that are abusing the word “freedom” a bit too much, these apps will be helpful.
For babies, toddlers, and Preschoolers (0-5 years)
Baby Led Kitchen
Nutrition is a big concern for parents of young children, and Baby Led Kitchen can remove all your worries by offering hundreds of recipes for kids. It has recipes for children from 6-months until they can eat independently. Each recipe is tried and tested for young children, making sure it’s easy to cook and budget-friendly.
You can search for recipes by type and even filter them like dairy-free or gluten-free. A timer is shown for each recipe, so you can also look for recipes based on how much time it takes to prepare. It’s a paid app, and you can download the app for a price of $3.99 with everything unlocked. Download on Android | iOS
Baby Rattle
Why get a rattle toy with a single sound for your infant or toddler when you can have Baby Rattle with tons of different sounds and animations. This app basically turns your phone into an advanced rattle toy to soothe babies. It comes with varying types of rattle sounds that you can use by tapping or shaking the phone.
There are interactive characters that your toddler can tap around with to have fun. The app can even help with sleeping the baby using its sleep mode in which soothing sounds are played to help the baby sleep. Download on Android | iOS
Baby Monitor 3G
A monitoring app is necessary if you often leave the baby alone, and I recommend Baby Monitor 3G for its reliability. All you need is two phones, one phone next to the baby (you can use an old one) and one with you. After a quick setup, this app will show a live video of your baby to you no matter where you are in the world. It works on both Wi-Fi and mobile data, and it can automatically adjust the video quality to ensure you never disconnect, even on a bad connection. It will notify you when the baby is awake, and you can even talk to the baby through the phone to soothe them. You need to pay $3.99 to download the app, but it unlocks all features and unlimited recording. Download on Android | iOS If you are looking for a free alternative, then Baby Monitor Saby is also worth trying.
Growth Book
Tracking your child’s growth is necessary, especially in the early years. The Growth Book app helps track the development of children from birth to 5 years. It has multiple sections to track development milestones. You can provide the child’s birth details, and it will create a growth chart in accordance with the WHO Z score where you can update the child’s details every month to keep track.
There is also a food tracker to keep the nutrition your child is taking in check and also get ideas on what to cook. But most important of all, it has a vaccination tracker that recommends vaccination according to child age and country of residence (120+ countries supported). For everything else, you can also chat with real doctors for free advice. Download on Android
Potty Whiz
Potty training is another big hurdle that every parent needs to deal with. This app makes the process a little easier by offering a potty activity tracker and reminder. You can log activities related to your child’s sessions to keep track of progress and improvements. Such as when they go potty, did they tell you, any accidents, etc.
You can also set up a custom potty schedule to get reminders to ask the child if they want to do it. Furthermore, in successful sessions, you can encourage the child by using built-in praise sounds and animations. Download on Android | iOS
For Gradeschoolers (5-12 years)
Kiddy
Giving rewards can be a great way to encourage young children who are learning to take responsibility. Kiddy app makes this easier by allowing you to give positive/negative points to your child based on preset activities and the child’s performance. You can create custom rewards based on points accumulated. It could be money equal to points or a gift at a milestone.
Right inside the app, you can create challenges that your children can complete and earn rewards. There is also a wish list that your children can edit to get gifts that they like, and you just decide the reward points. Download on Android
Recipes for Kids
If you want to encourage your school-going children to help with cooking, then get this app. Recipes for Kids has hundreds of recipes loved by school-going children, and it encourages children to follow the recipes and cook along with their parents.
There is a search function to search for recipes using ingredients or terms, and your favorite recipes can also be shared with friends or family members. You can also save recipes to view them offline or even create a shopping list based on recipe ingredients. If you want to follow a specific diet plan for your child, this app also shows the nutrition information of each recipe. Download on Android
Montessori Activities
Parents should engage in activities with children to foster skill development even outside school time. The Montessori Activities app makes this easier by offering numerous real-life games and activities suitable for school-going children and helping them learn new skills. All activities are focused on the Montessori area and are divided into categories to develop their interest in different skills. You just need to provide the child’s age and how much time you have to get involved in these activities, and the app will recommend activities accordingly. Download on Android | iOS
For Teens (12-18 years)
Bark
Bark is an all-round monitoring app for next-generation parents. It monitors the most popular mobile applications and keeps tabs to filter out any sign of cyber-bullying, suicidal ideation, etc. Not just this, you can also control your kid’s screen time and regulate access to various websites. It helps your kid to stay away from the internet demons. This can be assistive with your pro-active parenting.
Google Family Link
Giving a smartphone to your growing child is a basic need now, but as a responsible parent, you need to keep a check using a parental control app. I recommend the Google Family Link app as it covers both tracking and control of the child’s phone, and all for free.
You can track exactly what your children are accessing on their phones, including apps and browser activity. To control screen time, just set a specific limit, and the phone will lock right after the time ends. You can also control the apps, websites, and YouTube content the child can access. You can check my complete guide on setting up the Google Family Link app to optimally set the app on both your child and your phone. Download on Android | iOS
Greenlight
Kids’ monthly allowance can be a big headache, mainly because you don’t exactly know where they will spend it. Greenlight solves all problems related to a child’s monthly allowance by offering a debit card for kids that is fully managed by the parents. It’s a prepaid card, so kids can only spend what the parents add to the card. Furthermore, parents also approve every transaction made by the child, so they always know where the child is spending. Parents can further secure children by preventing them from using the card at specific stores. Download on Android | iOS
S’moresUp
S’moresUp is a chore management app that helps the whole family to keep track of chores. It can also be used as an allowance manager with a twist of a reward system based on tasks completed. Specifically, talking about teens, you can create a chore list for them and even set up rewards to incentivize them to complete them on time. It works as a family scheduler app, too, where you can schedule important events and sync them with other family members to keep everyone on track. The app has a trial period of 45-days, after which you need to subscribe to the premium version costing $4.99/month for the whole family. Download on Android | iOS
Bonus 🎁
Along with the above apps that help take care of the different needs of the children, I would also like to share two apps that will help you become a better parent. The Happy Child and Parents are two apps that offer extensive knowledge about parenting with daily lessons. Parents app also has a great community where you can share your experience with other parents and share photos/videos. Download The Happy Child on Android | iOS Download Parents on Android | iOS
Final words 👶
I am sure all the above apps will make parenting a little easier for you. Even though I have separated these apps by the child’s age, I am sure some of these apps can overlap and cover a larger group, such as Google Family Link that can also work for grade-schoolers. So make sure you check all the apps no matter your child’s age. You may also be interested in reading: 8 Best Kids Trackers to ensure they are safe.
