Three Ways Technology Can Help Parents
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Guest Post: Fathering Together
Parents are burned out. More and more research and studies are pointing this out, but any parent will tell you that this is not anything new. Parents have a lot on their plates between work, family, and personal health and without good practices, burn out can quickly set in.
As a father of two daughters who are seven and five, I’d be lying if my wife and I aren’t burned out. Every week, we sit down and map out what is in store for us between work, family, school, and community events. Some weeks, we sigh, give one another a hug, and take one step at a time to get to the next Sunday so that we can do it all over again.
But, it doesn’t have to be this way.
If you were alive in the early 1990s, you may remember AT&T created a series of commercials predicting how we would engage with everyday life. Each ended with the narrator saying, “You Will!” As someone who loves science fiction, I ate up these commercials. I remember discussing them with all my friends and imagining, “What else could be in store for us as we grow up?”
Thirty years later, as a father of two daughters, I reflect back on those commercials amid my burned out moments and wonder what happened? While some of those ideas came to fruition with E-books, video conference capabilities, and 3D printing to help in the medical fields, none of those visions came to fruition to help families. None of those commercials predicted the levels of burnout that parents go through.
Thankfully, innovators like the team behind Maple are imagining technology that helps families. They are imagining a world where technology works for and with us that helps in three specific ways areas.
Communication
In the “You Will” videos, there were multiple versions of video conferencing presented, but for families on the go, we don’t need videos, we need quick lists and tasks that allow us to know what we need to get done that day. By using Maple, my wife and I plan our week and communicate quickly when things alter day-to-day. If my wife has to stay late at work, or one of the kids spills the milk and an emergency grocery run is needed, we create a new task in Maple, and we’re done!
Efficiency
Prior to using Maple, we used three separate systems… Google Calendar to connect our work schedules, kid’s music and sports lessons, and weekend trips; a grocery app to track what we need each week for 4 different grocery stores in our area; texting to stay up to date when we forgot something. But, with Maple, all of that gets connected in one system. We integrated Calendar, input our grocery lists, and leave notes in tasks to clarify what we really need done.
Equity
This final point is critical. As a father, I’m constantly challenged to be the parent by our society. Too often, people default to my wife to do the groceries, pick up our kids, and cover doctor appointments. While Maple won’t solve our societal expectations, it does allow us to share the workload of our home responsibilities. Every Sunday, we sit down and lay out the big stuff like vacation planning and small tasks like grocery runs and laundry.
To this final point, AT&T’s commercials didn’t come close. But thankfully, as the fam tech sector grows and more dads are stepping to challenge the roles that fathers play in the family, resources like Maple make a world of difference. And as a dad with two daughters, who have a radically different understanding of the world, every opportunity I have to show them what true fatherhood looks like, I’m going to take. Because fatherhood isn’t just being a paycheck and wearing a necktie anymore. And if you do think that, I challenge you to look around you at the numbers of father stepping up for their families and their communities.
And if you still don’t see it, you will!