Parenting Hero

This application has been produced by video games developers MythicalOwl in cooperation with the authors of “How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen” by Joanna Faber and Julie King. At first glance the application looks highly professional, beautifully illustrated and easy to navigate. The Settings option in the top right allows the user to change language from English to Polish or Spanish and to turn the music on or off.

 

The user is greeted with a home screen that introduces the application with some excellent illustrations and engaging music. The home screen displays 4 topic areas indicated by the moving illustrations:

Each topic shows several scenarios describing how a child may respond to a given situation, these include:

 

Handling emotions:

Engaging Cooperation

Praise and Appreciation

Each topic also introduces a tickertape style graphic displayed in the bottom right hand corner. This is a short snappy information strip that reminds us of parental advice without delving further into the application. This is ideal as some parents who may have read the advice before but may need a quick reminder of the possible strategies in the heat of the moment.

 

Each advice topic has a number of beautifully illustrated scenarios. A question or scenario is prompted by the child or parent. The parent has three options to reply. Each option chosen will play through the scenario with a helpful summary at the end explaining how the adult responded and how the child feels. This also allows the parents to try again and reveals a tick when the parent has responded correctly. We did feel that the tick was a little patronising and maybe the developers should consider another icon that suggest that parents have read and understood the scenario rather than choosing the correct response. There is also an option to add the scenario to the parents “Favourites”.

 

The application is vast and has many scenarios. We sometimes found this difficult to track and often forgot the original question or scenario that was asked. The developers may consider adding a heading of the scenario in each storyboard to remind parents of the scenario they are in. The developers may also consider added a narrative to the characters to suggest voice tone in the parental and child responses. A parent’s response not only has a huge impact in ‘what they say’ but also ‘how they say it’.

 

We all understand that there is no perfect manual for parenting as every child is different and parental situations are not all the same. However, this application does provide some fantastic scenarios that we have all come across as parents. Whilst we cannot guarantee how the child will respond in accordance to the advice the application does hit upon many scenarios that are true to life. The advice given throughout these scenarios is priceless and can help parents respond to everyday situations without escalation having a positive influence on their children.

 

The developers should be commended on the quality of this application. Not only is the app easy to navigate, features stunning graphics and animations but also offers instant, practical parenting advice to busy parents who have little time to search for the perfect parenting guidebook. This application comes highly recommended by the EducationalAppStore.com