I recently had the chance to preview NBC’s new Parent Tool Kit App. The app is designed to help you navigate your child’s growth and development from Pre-K through 12th grade.
I will admit that I’m not a huge app user – I stick to about 5 or 6 favorites and don’t deter, but what I liked about this one is that it’s so low maintenance.
In set-up, you add each of your children, their age range or grade and then you have a chance to browse what types of benchmarks you’d like to focus on for their development. You can choose between health and wellness or academic, and later this year, you’ll be able to add social/emotional benchmarks as well.
What’s nice about these tips and benchmarks is that you choose them. Every child is different, so they don’t push a certain list of priorities over others – you choose what’s best for your child. The tips are also not incredibly lengthy, which for a busy mom is one of my favorite features. The benchmarks are more designed to help you be intentional in what you’d like to focus on with your child with the tips there to direct you just a bit.
These could be incredibly useful before doctors appointments and school conferences. I always have those moments when they ask “is there anything else you had questions about?” Of course I do, I just never remember until five minutes after we’ve driven away. You could easily add priorities to each of your children as you think of things between appointments or conferences, then take a quick glance over this list before you head in so the information is fresh in your head.
Overall, I’d recommend giving it a try – we all want to be a great mom, but being intentional sometimes means you need a check-list and a reminder, and this app can easily help you do just that.
