From the beginning of time, our beautiful Lia has kept us on our toes and if you been following for a while, you know I’ve been open about this. I’ve also shared her ADHD diagnosis and some of the tools and strategies we implemented in the past, to help her manage and learn how to manage herself and hopefully become a responsible young lady. Now, I’m not going to lie and say all of it worked because we’re talking about a child here. I mean, what child doesn’t have trouble focusing, listening and learning? Luckily, we’re resilient parents and we live in an age where “there’s software or an app for that” and I thought it would be helpful to share what apps we’ve used and currently use (even though its a small list) to help us keep Lia off of SM, make sure she’s save, limit her screen time, and help her build her independence.

Amazon’s Alexa

To help with task/chore management and remind her of specific responsibilities on specific dates. A software we are all too familiar with, I’m sure. We have Alexa devices all throughout the house, specifically, Lia has an echo dot in her room. When she was younger, and before Alexa became a household member, we used lists and would place physical reminders throughout the house to help her stay on task and remind her of certain responsibilities on specific days. Fast forward to today, Lia uses Alexa as her personal assistant, by setting chore reminders specific to her for specific days and times. Depending on the reminder, she can set it to remind her on a specific device, tell it when to repeat, on what date and time, as well as set it to follow up. She also uses Alexa’s timers to help her stay on task with her chores, for example, if she’s washing a load of laundry, she will set a timer for the load time so she doesn’t forget and end up leaving the load in all day.

If you have any Alexa your house, it’s as easy as adding each member of your family to the app and then creating these reminders with your specific settings either within the app or by simply talking to Alexa.

Gizmo Watch

Of course this only applies to Verizon users

As a means of communication and tracking w/o having to give your child a phone. We were always against introducing a cell phone at such a young age. As some one who didn’t have a cell phone until 16, there was no way I was giving my 7 year old a cell phone, and for obvious reasons. So when the time came when we needed to be able to communicate with her but still keep her away from all the dangers of having the internet in the palm of her hand, we committed to the gizmo watch. Back then it wasn’t as common as it is now and I’m glad to see its become a popular alternative to a cellphone because it’s truly a parenting lifesaver. I can’t recommend this enough.

It’s very limited in function but does exactly what you need it to do. For example, it allows you to control and set who and when a trusted contact can engage with and communicate with your child. Tracks your child’s location and sends location alerts when they leave a “safe zone”, for peace of mind. Other features include to-do lists, step tracking, and a front facing camera.

We used the gizmo watch for Lia from ages 7-14. Towards the end is when she refused to wear it because “it was embarrassing”, which leads me to our next software/device – The Bark Phone.

FEE: This depends on your plan and whether you purchase your gizmo used or new. From what I remember the device was about $129 and monthly data plan of $10 a month additional to your Verizon Plan.

Bark Phone

“The most customizable kid’s phone with text and social media monitoring built-in.” I’m not going to lie, I’m very proud we made it to 14 years old without a phone. She was about to enter 9th grade and I knew I had to get her a phone, because the entire year prior had been a struggle. She simply refused to wear it or use it, which lead her to losing it or leaving it behind. So I did some research and found The Bark Phone. Let me tell you, I wholeheartedly recommend it. The control and monitor it offers is 100% necessary in this day and age, especially if you have a highly impressionable TEEN.

The Bark phone is an Android. No contract necessary. Different plans and pricing for you to chose from. The around the clock monitoring against bulling, sexual content, medical concerns, depression, etc., which in my opinion is incredible because it saves me from having to go through her phone. You can block her from deleting texts or photos. Same as the gizmo, you control and approve her contact list. You approve the apps she downloads, whether she has browsing capabilities or not and set screen time limits and cut off times. GPS tracking. The list goes on and on.

FEE: Starts at $39 a month and can go up to $89 depending on the plan you choose. The phone is included when you first sign up. Replacements are $199. So I recommend immediately getting a protective case and a screen protector!

Bark also offers an app ($14 a month) that can be installed on other devices which offers around the clock monitoring like I described above. As well as a device you can purchase and have in your help to monitor all devices!

Would she be happy with an iphone? Of course, but for the time being I’m so happy with this phone and the peace of mind it offers. As I mentioned above, I cannot recommend this phone enough. If you’re interested and want to learn more here’s my referral link.

Greenlight Card

A debit card for kids and teens. An app, that allows you to set chores and paying allowance on autopilot. This was a no brainer for me. I needed a system to help me pay Lia weekly for her chores because I was constantly forgetting. Not only that, it was such hassle to take out money every week or every month for that matter. I also didn’t want her walking around with cash she could potentially lose so I did what I always do and consulted the inter-web and found the greenlight card. Let me tell you, I haven’t looked back since.

Through the app, you connect your checking account and designate either a weekly or monthly amount to be drafted from your account. From there you set the amount paid weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. To take it a step further, you can then set their allowance to be divvied up between a spending, savings and/or investing account with in the app. They send a debit card with their name on it which can be customized. Everything can be set and controlled through the app. For example, you can immediately freeze your child’s card if gets lost, stole or you simply don’t want them to use it. You can set up spending alerts and restrictions. First replacement card is free and $3.50 after. It’s accepted anywhere Mastercard is accepted, online, and in-store. Another incredible feature is your child’s access to the app where they can set their chores, see their balance and transaction history.

Something we haven’t tapped into is the investing portion of the app but I plan on looking into that soon especially now that Lia has an official job and will have more than her allowance deposited in there.

FEE: There’s a monthly subscription fee of $5.99

If this sounds like a no brain for you like it was for me, you can use my referral link and earn $30!

Alright, we’ve reached the end of this post. I hope you found this helpful and I’d love to hear what apps, programs, software or devices you use as a parent to monitor and make your life and child or teen’s life easier.

As always thank you for being here! Until next time.

XO,

Jennifer P