Guest Post
Being a parent is hard work, and keeping up with everything that’s going on can be a challenge. Whether you want to get on top of daily tasks, track your child’s development, or monitor their whereabouts and protect them, there’s an app that can help. In no particular order, here are 7 apps to help you be a better parent:
This app was actually created by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and allows parents to store photographs of their children, along with other identifiers such as height, weight, hair color and eye color. Parents can have some peace of mind that they are prepared for unthinkable situations, as information can be quickly accessed and shared with authorities if the child ever goes missing.
Other prominent features include tips on what to do if something happens to your child, general safety guidelines, and shortcuts to call emergency services and other authorities that deal with missing children.
Baby Connect is an all-inclusive app that tracks everything about your baby’s schedule and development, including feeding, changing, sleeping, moods, milestones, and medical information. You can also create and store records such as growth charts and vaccination history, receive notifications and reminders, set timers, and attach pictures. Data can be made into lists, graphs and charts, shared via email, Facebook and Twitter, and synchronized with Apple devices, Androids and the Baby Connect web interface.
This app makes it easy to store your own records and compare them over time, as well as sharing them with your spouse or babysitter. You can also receive data and updates from your spouse or babysitter, meaning that everything is stored in one place and your baby receives the best care possible.
A convenient app for planning meals, particularly at the last minute, you can select a type of dish, specific ingredients, and desired preparation time, and see what options you’re given.
Shopping lists can be made, recipes can be saved, and both can be shared via email, Facebook and Twitter. Grocery items can be scanned and either added to shopping lists or searched for in recipes, and everything includes pictures. This is a great app for the meal planner of the house.
This app is great if your child has allergies, but is also useful for searching for various undesirable food additives, which can be listed by name, risk level, and special diet type.
It features over 450 additives, along with their origins and uses, side effects, maximum daily intake, and any potentially dangerous information or particular groups of people that may be negatively affected by them.
This is an excellent resource for parents of children with special dietary requirements or allergies, and parents who are health-conscious or concerned about the effects of additives.
This tracker can provide you with the location of your children, the rest of the family, and anyone else who accepts your tracking request. It features a built-in unique messaging system, allowing you to contact them, and notifies you when they have read the messages, and you can even get their attention by setting off an alert siren.
The app needs to be bought separately for every device you’re tracking, and you have the option to subscribe to a service that allows you to view and transfer previous GPS data.
The Parenting Ages & Stages app consists of 5 stages: pregnancy, first year, second year, early years, and school years. It focuses on your child’s particular age and stage, from birthay parties to play dates, and provides you with relevant information about development and parenting concerns.
Customizable for every user, you can add your child’s name, their pictures, and their birthday. The app also includes notifications for product recalls and daily updates from parenting bloggers.
This is a comprehensive mobile monitoring system that alerts you to various household activities like people coming into the house, someone looking in the medicine cabinet, the door being left open, or someone trying to adjust the thermostat. You can view live and recorded video through installed cameras, turn lights on and off, and arm and disable the system remotely.
Visit Alarm.com to decide which products and services you need to keep your family safe.
There you have it, 7 great apps to help you be a better parent!
Sarah Perkins is a mother of four and writes regularly on the topics of parenting and technology.
Great informative post.
I saw one that alerted you to if a product is manufactured by Monsanto or not. I want that one.
Thank you for posting these. I need to check them out.
These all sound very helpful. I will be downloading the Food Additive app today!
Thank you for sharing these apps, they all sound great. You always have to be prepared when you’re a parent.
I want to check out Ages and Stages. I’m always at a loss about what is age appropriate.
Thank you for the information. Very good blog to review. Thanks.
You are just feeding my app addiction with this post – these all sound really great!
Some of these Apps are amazing.It’s unreal what they can do.I enjoyed this info immensely and I do hope they are helpful to parents.
Love, love, LOVE the Dinner Spinner. That’s a constant cause of stress for us!
I just shared the baby connect app with my friends having babies. THanks!
The FBI app would really come in handy if it was ever needed, which hopefully I’ll never have to worry about that.
I’m going to download that FBI app! Thanks for sharing.
Now that all my kids are all teenagers, I could definitely use the family tracker app. Thanks for sharing!
I wish the HTC phone had better apps. 🙁
Great list of apps.
I never would have thought to download apps like this! Great tips.
I need to try the Dinner Spinner app.
While some are not applicable the FBI one is a great suggestion for anyone.
I honestly don’t use apps but these sound really great
These look like some great apps! Thanks for sharing. I’m going to check out that FBI child ID.
Those are all very good tips. It’s easy to panic in a situation if you aren’t prepared.