No one ever said parenting was easy, right?
Any mom or dad can tell you that every stage of parenting is tough. Babies don’t sleep, toddlers don’t listen, adults don’t do their homework. Of course, most of us wouldn’t give up parenting for anything; we just wish it were a little easier.
The good news is that we live in an age where help is at our fingertips.
And not just to help you, these apps are designed to keep you sane.
Here’s how to choose the best one for you.
Apps for Babies
WedMD Baby, Baby Connect, Eat Sleep, Simple Baby Tracking, and White Noise are four apps designed specifically to help parents of newborns and toddlers navigate the chaos that surrounds this stage of life.
While these little ones do nothing but eat, sleep, and swallow, every parent knows how terrifying the newborn experience can be, especially when your baby wakes up every two hours for a middle-of-the-night feed. You’re supposed to be at work in 6 weeks, and there’s not enough coffee in the world to keep you thinking straight.
Luckily, these apps make it a little easier to think things through, and each one has its place.
WebMD Baby is a division of WebMD, one of the most trusted sources of medical information on the web. So it’s no wonder that over 1.7 million new parents also trust the app. In addition to offering feeding, sleep, and diapering tracking, it also offers a wealth of relevant information and an “Ask the Pediatrician” feature with videos from trusted doctors.
Baby Connect
Baby Connect also lets you track feeding, sleep, and diapering. It offers multiple logins for the same account, meaning mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, nanny, or anyone else can log in to the same child’s account. This makes the app especially ideal for families with babysitters, as the nanny can log the child’s daily activities, and parents will receive instant updates with parent links.
Eat, sleep. Simple Baby Tracker is perhaps the simplest and easiest baby app, allowing new parents to quickly enter information and get on with their busy days.
Looking at these three highly rated apps, the bottom line is that you need to decide which features are most important to you. Do you need instant access to professional medical information, instant syncing with your nanny, or a simple platform to monitor your baby’s feeding and sleeping schedule? Do you want to share photos or keep the information completely private? Remember, all of these apps offer basic consistency, so it’s the details that really make the difference when it comes to in-app purchases.
White Noise is a completely different app, but perhaps the most practical. The sounds include an air conditioner, torrential rain, a cat purring, and more.
Toddler Parenting Apps
The Terrible Two. It’s often mistakenly thought of as a stage that can start at age 1.5 and end at age 4. This is the Jekyll and Hyde stage, where one second your 2-year-old is throwing a tantrum because you coughed, and the next second he’s screaming angelically at his doll.
This is also the stage where kids start to be creative, use the toilet, and really enjoy playdates.
That’s where Artkive, Sit or Squat, and MomMaps come in—three apps that, in theory, can be used by kids of any age, but are actually most useful for parents of young children.
Artkive
Artkive is a phenomenal app that offers a paperless way to store your kids’ artwork. Monthly fees range from $3 to $13, and all plans include unlimited storage.
Sitting or lying down, that’s what it sounds like. It gives you the closest bathroom spot. Has any parent ever gone through the “I have to go” phase with a toddler? Yes. Of course, that’s how helpful this app can be.
MomMaps helps parents find nearby parks, playgrounds, restaurants, museums, and indoor playgrounds. This is especially useful for parents on vacation who want to find nearby kid-friendly places to play. Arepp also lets you read reviews, which helps you make sure you don’t end up in a place that’s not right for your child.
While any of the three apps mentioned above can help you stay healthy during your child’s early years, remember that just because they’re useful doesn’t mean you have to buy them. If your child isn’t particularly interested in art, you don’t have to go crazy saving their creations. While these apps are great, only you can decide whether they’ll help you or just waste your time and energy.
Family Wizard Apps
Your little ones are growing up fast. And suddenly those kids’ apps are no longer relevant. Yes, you need a more comprehensive and functional app to manage your growing family, which basically includes any child who can organize a to-do list or go places on their own.
Cozi, ChoreMonster, and Mama Bear are similar apps, but like kids’ apps, each offers its own unique features. Cozi is the most comprehensive of the three, meaning it covers most aspects of family life.
Which app could help you?
Here are more details.
Cozi is an award-winning calendar and collaborative organizer app that helps bring order to the chaos of family life. It includes a family planner, lets you create to-do lists for everyone, shopping lists, recipes, and much more. In practice, this means you can keep track of your child’s (and your) doctor’s appointments, after-school activities, shopping lists, meal planning, and communication. Plus, you can follow your favorite sports team’s schedule with color-coded communication tools.
Cozi
Cozi Gold is the VIP version, which costs $29.99 per year and offers an ad-free experience, as well as other benefits.
ChoreMonster is an app designed to help your kids ages 4 to 12 complete their homework by turning it into a fun game. The most important thing to know about this app is that it uses rewards as an incentive to get their chores done. While this may not suit everyone’s parenting philosophy, for those who prefer to encourage their kids, there’s no better app than ChoreMonster. It’s fun, engaging, and easy to access for both kids and parents.
The appeal of Cozi and ChoreMonster is that your kids need access to electronic devices so that everyone is on the same page. The apps work on Android, iOS, and computers, but if your child is not old enough to have free access to these devices, you will need a different solution.
Mama Bear is designed for families with teenagers. It is also an award-winning app, offering message and social media monitoring, location sharing, speed alerts, and sharing with family members. There is a free version and an ad-free paid version that offers more features. This app is truly exceptional and can provide peace of mind for parents whose children have entered the troubled teenage years.
Empower Yourself!
Using a parenting app that helps you determine what stage of parenting you are in will not only benefit you, but everyone in your family. Your children will enjoy a calmer, more organized, and more balanced parent who can laugh and enjoy time with their children instead of worrying about the inevitable details of parenting.
As a parent, you are the one who will make your family run more smoothly, you are the one who will make your children’s lives more organized and hassle-free, and you are the one who will provide the greatest peace of mind possible.
What’s more empowering than that?
