(Image by William Hook)
There are so many new smart phone products on the market every day. It’s difficult to keep up, let along sift through it all to find the family-friendly gems. Most of the parents I know have a growing list of questions and concerns about the increasing role that technology is playing in our everyday family life, especially where kids are concerned. But whether you’re gung-ho or on the fence, this is a trend that here to stay. Luckily there are a lot of great resources to help parents make informed choices.
It was an interest in mobile technology “for parents, by parents” that led me to co-found Moms with Apps, a community of parents developing mobile applications for families and kids. Our philosophy has always been to support collaboration and honest information sharing among parents as a means to create truly exceptional (and truly family-friendly) mobile applications. It’s been exciting to watch our group flourish over the last two years and to see the diversity and creativity of our members at work. Applications span reading (PicPocketBooks, Tales2Go, AppyZoo Duck Duck Moose), learning (Math Girl Number Garden, Arithmaroo Counting, Kids Time Fun – Learn to Tell Time), fun and creativity (Faces iMake, Cupcakes!, Build a Zoo, Snow Globe Maker), as well as road trips and travel (My Little Suitcase, Sunday Drive, Road Trip Bingo). My app, Mom Maps, helps parents find and share their favorite kid-friendly locations from parks to playgrounds, indoor play places, museums and restaurants (more than 24,000 kid spots and counting).
But this is just the tip of the iceberg. For parents taking the smart phone plunge (or just thinking about it), here are some of my favorite links and resources for navigating the world of smart phones and a few links for those interested in developing their own app.
- The iPhone Mom and Crazy Mike’s Apps provide helpful reviews, especially for family-friendly apps.
- Cool Mom Tech: From the creators of Cool Mom Picks…. tips and reviews for the tech savvy parent
- “Top 50 iPhone Apps for Moms” (Babble.com)
- “The Best iPhone Apps for Kids” (New York Times, “Gadgetwise” Blog)
- “15 iPhone Apps for Kids” (Mashable)
- “10 iPhone Apps for Moms and Dads” (Mommy Poppins Blog)
- Visit the Moms With Apps website on Fridays for app giveaways and freebies.
- Do research on the internet in a SAFE and SECURE environment for children using Mobicip’s Safe Browser
- “Parenting While Plugged In” (New York Times)
- “When Your Brother Was Your Age” (Lisa Belkin tackles the question ‘how old is old enough for a cell phone’ on the New York Times “Motherlode” Blog)
- “Tech Savvy Moms, Setting Rules” (New York Times “Motherlode” Blog)
- Apps for kids with special needs: ”App Resources for Special Needs” by Eric Sailers and “Characteristics of Great Apps for Kids with Autism” by Shannon Des Roches Rosa: mother, writer, and advocate for children with autism and special needs.
Have a great idea for an app? There are great resources for that as well:
- Moms with Apps — Share ideas, insights and expertise with other parent developers
- “Building Apps for Children a Profitable Niche” (Washington Post)
- Tips for marketing an app from Robleh Jama, star Dad developer from the team at Tiny Hearts: “App Marketing Rules“
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Jill Seman is a San Francisco Bay mom, the creator of Mom Maps and one of the co-counders of Moms with Apps. She has over 15 years of engineering and management experience with media processing companies like Nvidia, S3, Cirrus Logic and Chips and Technologies.
Tags: A, IPhone, Kid-Friendly, mobile apps, Mom Maps, Moms wit Apps
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