Category Archives: There’s an App for That

4 Common Parenting Mistakes You Can Easily Avoid with Parental Controls

We all try to be the best parents to our loved ones and try to fix their problems as soon as possible. But it’s true that we are not born to be the perfect parents nor should we expect the kids to be perfect. Always relying on your parenting instinct might make it difficult for you to cope with common parenting issues. We should learn how we can ignore making some disasters in our parenting to become more effective moms and dads. Let’s have a look at some common disasters and how you can fix each.

Common Parenting Disasters

If you recall, at some point of time, you might have done something utterly wrong that resulted in a disaster. But relax, it’s totally okay to mess things up sometimes. Being a parent doesn’t mean we were genetically programmed to be perfect! And if you’re new at parenting, these common parenting mistakes and their quick fixes can help you out of any disaster!

Disaster 1: Underestimating our teens

A very usual fault in our parenting is that we underestimate the observation of teens and their access to information. Before you start educating them about sexuality and human biology, they might already know a lot. They have smartphones and tablets with 24/7 internet connection so what do you think, they wouldn’t be curious and search the stuff online? They would and they do!

Quick fix: The real issue is what if they land on the wrong source and get exposed to misleading or adult content? They could access the adult content any time so keep tabs on what they view online. You can do this easily, because there are a lot of parental control apps these days, and you can select the most suitable one to monitor their browsing history.

Disaster 2: Forgetting to pick them up

It’s a common mistake among the working parents, especially moms. They are always in a rush because they have to work, send the kids to school, pick them up, prepare food for them and give them time in the evening. In such chaos, moms often tend to forget to pick their kids up from school or a dance practice and this could really get messy!

Quick fix: For this, the best suited solution is a digital parenting app. FamilyTime Parental Controls in particular has the easiest solution to this problem.

They have a feature called PickMeUp alerts. With this feature, your child can send you PickMeUp alert from their phone with just a single tap. This way, you will know exactly when you have to pick your child up and from where.

Conveniently, FamilyTime has an app that parents can install the app on their phones and can receive these alerts on their own smartphones. It’s compatible with all versions of iPhones and Android phones and tabs so you can access this app on Google play and iTunes easily.

     

 

Disaster 3: Leaving kids home alone

When leaving for the parties, work or any event, we hardly pay attention to what could be the consequences of leaving the child home alone. And sometimes you can’t find babysitter in time. And then again, these days, you should really think twice before engaging a baby sitter for your kids. It’s good to trust the children and training them to be independent, but growing-up pre-teens can take advantage of their freedom easily. This is the biggest cause of teens sneaking out late at night and pushing themselves in troubles.

Quick fix: It’s quite horrifying to find your child sneaking out late at night or even worse; inviting someone they fancy. This can be a little too early for such activities and parents need to be in the loop but we can’t be on their shoulders all the time. No sweat; you can stay updated with where they are by the geo-fencing the places.

FamilyTime app is very handy, as you can add certain places to Places list and get push notification if your child enter or leave those places.

Disaster 4: Setting teenage curfews

At times we all become a bit over-protected towards our children. But unfortunately, it can’t help in avoiding the problems. Setting up curfews and stopping the teens from partying and clubbing could be disastrous sometimes. This is a major cause of their sneaky behavior.

Quick fix: You can avoid the stress by viewing their location history with the help of any handy GPS tracking app. These apps are the smartest choice to keep tabs on the teens’ whereabouts. So as long as you know they’re not going to inappropriate places, you can always allow them some fun!

Smart parenting can make it easier for you!

Parental controls are great in dealing with teens and common parenting challenges.

You can strengthen your bond with your younger ones with the use of the FamilyTime app, as it can keep you updated with their location, their online activities and send you instant alerts to avoid any delays in picking them up. Digital monitoring is the easiest and affordable option to cut down your parenting disasters. So what are you waiting for? Let the good times roll!

 

Educating at Home

As I have mentioned in the past, I like to do whatever I can to encourage my kids to learn. I am constantly on the hunt for new things for them to do and explore. This is probably why our house is overflowing with books, activity sets, craft supplies, electronics and so much more.

There are so many tools available today that educating our kids at home has become pretty easy to do. Since the little ones aren’t old enough to attend school yet, I love to teach them little things here and there to help them get a jumpstart. When it comes to the other 3 kids, all of these extras at home help them in other areas as well.

One of my favorite things to do with the little ones is check out different apps on the iPad. Both Ellie and Joey love to play on the iPad and since Santa was super generous this past Christmas, we have iPads and gift cards to keep us pretty set for a while.

Ellie creating music and having fun on the iPad.

There are so many apps available in both the App Store and Google Play for free that you can continuously introduce them to something new. Fun apps for preschoolers for us are those that introduce them to music, early math skills and letters.

The kids continue to amaze me with how much they know when it comes to using the iPad. Ellie can navigate it so well and find all of her favorite things to do without any assistance. If she didn’t need a password to install an app, she would be downloading those like crazy as well. 

Alexander loves to use his iPad to play Skylanders, Minecraft, Math Blaster and so many other things including a few programming and coding apps he was introduced to at school.

Technology and my kids continue to amaze me every single day.

Are there apps that your kids really enjoy? What do you do to encourage your children to learn at home?

 

Splash Math Apps for Kids

This post was created in partnership with Mom Buzz Media and StudyPad Inc. All opinions expressed are my own.

Since I won an iPad back in January, my kids have been glued to it. Seriously, they are on it more than I am. So, as you can imagine, the iPad is filled with kids apps, which I don’t have a problem with because I love that my kids are learning while ‘playing’ on it.

The kids are currently enjoying their new apps from Splash Math.

Splash Math – Preschool & Kindergarten

Since Ellie is home with me all day long and not eligible to attend a traditional preschool we’ve been doing a few things at home to help ensure she is on track when she does head to class next fall.  She loves Splash Math Preschool & Kindergarten because it has lots of cool graphics, the characters are fun and they are super cute when you make them dance.

If you are looking for an app to get your younger, Pre-K  age, child started on math this is a great tool. Lots of fun things to do to learn sequences, counting and simple addition and subtraction. 

Splash Math – Grades 1 to 5

Alexander is our little mathlete, just like his daddy. He loves to do math whenever and wherever he can so apps that encourage him to sharpen his skills are just what we are looking for. 

Splash Math for Grades 1-5 gives him the opportunity to work at different levels and aligns great with what he is learning in school. 

I never thought I would have a kid that enjoys math but I’m glad I did.  Splash Math has become one of his favorite apps and is definitely a great app to download for the kids.

 

Join the 8 million+ users!
Download Splash Math on iTunes!

Get SplashMath for Grades 1-5
Get SplashMath for Pre-K

Or check them out on Google Play!

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*$100 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

Write a short review of any Splash Math app on the iTunes App Store. If you have already reviewed Splash Math app, simply update your review.
Send an email to giveaway@splashmath.com with your iTunes nickname and the app you reviewed.

Why We Love Kids Academy Apps

* I received a promotional item in order to facilitate this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links.*

Since we got an iPad at the beginning of the year, the little kids have really enjoyed using it.  Right now, my iPad gets used more by the kids than me.  (Thankfully that will change after the holidays, thanks, Santa!),

With the kids using it all the time, you can bet that it is filled with kid friendly apps, and most of them are educational. I am all for my kids learning things when they think they are just playing.

We recently checked out 3 apps from Kids Academy and they have quickly become some of Ellie’s favorite apps.

ABCs Alphabet Phonics & Montessori Learn to Read App for Toddlers

Ellie loves this app! She loves tracing letters, doing the mazes and exploring.

Preschool and Kindergarten Learning Kids Games Free for Toddler

Another Ellie favorite, mainly because she can trace letters.

As a mom, I am a fan of both of these apps because Ellie is learning her letters and numbers as well as how to write them and she doesn’t even realize how much she is learning from them but I do!

Bingo ABCs alphabet phonics song with farm animals cards for toddler free

This app will have your kids singing for days! Ellie is not only learning to read and spell with this app, she is also learing songs. Since being introduced to this app, she sings BINGO all the time.

All of these apps are free in your App Store and of course, you can purchase upgraded version of each that will unlock more fun for your toddlers.We use our iPad and educational apps as part of our every day homeschool preschool and love everything they have taught our kids!

 

Attention Lego Fans: Check Out the SKIT App

*This post is brought to you by SKIT  I received a promotional item in order to facilitate this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own. This post may contain affiliate links.*

If you have kids who love to create, you are going to want to introduce them to the SKIT app!  Alexander and Ellie are getting better at using my iPad every day and I’m always looking for new apps for them to try out and SKIT has been occupying their screentime a lot over the last few days.

For those who haven’t heard of SKIT, it is this really cool app that lets you create and share animated video messages using your photos and embellishing them with crazy outfits, filters, stickers and so much more.  To top it all off, SKIT just released a bunch of LEGO characters and backgrounds so everyone can have some more fun!

Here is a picture I found on my iPad after Alexander was playing with it this morning.

Creating a SKIT is EASY!

  • Download SKIT! on your tablet or Smartphone device through the iTunes App StoreGoogle Play, or Amazon
  • Get creative and select backgrounds, characters and props for story telling
  • Import your own photos (or ones from the internet) by tapping the + on the screen and then select from your photo library
  • Personalize and change photos using icons from the left toolbar to crop, add text, draw & incorporate props
  • Continue to add as many characters, photos, props, etc. as you wish
  • Make it rain or snow, create a dream sequence with our camera filters, or even play (safely) with fire!
  • Now it’s time to use your voice. Tap the record button. When you hear the word Go, use your fingers to move the characters around on the screen as you narrate the story to bring your characters to life
  • Press play to preview your SKIT!
  • Press share and send your skit privately to friends or share it with the entire SKIT! community

So, what are you waiting for??? Download SKIT and start creating today!