Nobody 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, older kids don’t do their homework. Of course, most parents 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 readily available.
And not only are these apps designed to help you, but they’re also 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’ve been working for six 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 subsidiary 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 rely on the app. In addition to tracking feeding, sleep, and diaper changes, it also offers a wealth of relevant information and an “Ask a Pediatrician” feature that includes videos from trusted doctors.
Baby Connect
Baby Connect also tracks feeding, sleep, and diaper changes. It offers multiple logins for the same account, meaning that mom, dad, grandparents, a 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 links to their guardianship.
Eat, sleep. Simple Baby Tracker is perhaps the simplest and easiest baby app to use, allowing new parents to quickly enter information and get on with their busy days.
When it comes to these three top-rated apps, the most important thing is to decide which features are most important to you. Do you need instant access to professional medical information, instant syncing with a nanny, or a simple platform to track 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 choosing an in-app purchase.
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 phase that can start as early as 18 months and end by age four. This is the Jekyll and Hyde phase, where one minute your two-year-old is throwing a tantrum because you coughed, and the next minute he’s screaming angelically at his doll.
This is also the phase when kids start creating art, using the bathroom, and really enjoying playdates.
That’s where Artkive, Sit or Squat, and MomMaps come in—three apps that can theoretically be used by children of any age, but are in practice most useful for parents of young children.
Artkive
Artkive is a great 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. Have all parents gone through the “I have to go” phase with a toddler? Yes. So there’s no doubt about how useful this app can be.
MomMaps helps parents find nearby parks, playgrounds, restaurants, museums, and indoor play areas. This is especially useful for parents on vacation who want to find kid-friendly activities nearby. Arepp also lets you read reviews, which lets you make sure you don’t end up in a place that’s not right for your child.
While any of these three apps can help you stay healthy during your child’s early years, keep in mind that just because they might be useful doesn’t mean you have to buy them. If your child isn’t particularly interested in art, you don’t need to go crazy saving their creations. While these apps are great, only you can decide whether they’re going to help you or just waste your time and energy.
Family Wizard Apps
Oh, your little ones are growing up so fast. And suddenly those baby and toddler 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 make to-do lists or go places on their own.
Cozi, ChoreMonster, and Mama Bear are all similar apps, but like all baby apps, each offers its own unique features. Cozi is the most comprehensive of the three, which means it covers most aspects of family life.
Which app could help you?
Here are some more details.
Cozi is an award-winning collaborative calendar and 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 more. In practice, this means you can keep track of your child’s (and your own) doctor’s appointments, extracurricular activities, shopping lists, meal planning, and communication. You can also 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, among other benefits.
Choremonster is an app designed to help 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 do chores. While this may not suit everyone’s parenting philosophy, for those who prefer to encourage their children, there’s no better app than Choreemonster. It’s fun, engaging, and easy to access for both kids and parents.
The appeal of Cozi and Choreemonster is that your kids need access to electronic devices so everyone can stay connected. The apps work on Android, iOS, and PC, but if your child isn’t old enough to have free access to those devices, you might want to consider another option.
Mama Bear is designed for families with teenagers. It’s also award-winning, offering messaging and social media monitoring, location sharing, speed alerts, and family sharing. There’s a free version and ad-free paid versions that offer more features. This app is truly unique and can bring peace of mind to parents whose children have entered the turbulent teenage years.
Empower Yourself!
Using a parenting app that helps you determine where you are in your parenting journey will benefit not only you, but your entire family. Your children will enjoy a calmer, more organized, and more balanced parent who can laugh and enjoy time with them instead of worrying about the inevitable details that come with parenting.
As a parent, you are the one who will improve your family’s functioning, you are the one who will make your children’s lives more organized and simple, and you are the one who will give you the greatest peace of mind possible.
What could be more empowering than that?
