Working Moms Reveal Must-Have Apps To Hack Parenting

The joys and wonders of motherhood often come with worry and anxiety: Am I present enough in my children’s lives? Am I able to provide for their needs? Am I able to keep them safe? Am I saving enough for their future? The mental list goes on.

As a working mom constantly juggling day-to-day schedules, I try to find ways to be productive, accountable, and organized. As expected, the journey is not always smooth-sometimes the kids are clean, and the house is still waiting for its turn.

Since there is no manual that comes with motherhood-or parenthood, for that matter-there's a chance that we end up parenting ourselves at the same time that we parent our own children. And that in itself can stretch us mothers pretty thin.

Before the pandemic hit and locked us all indoors, I worked as a flight attendant instructor for a local airline. My schedule was erratic, as I could be assigned to training, flights, or administrative work. I sometimes found myself doing grocery shopping on an app on my way home, making sure that the kids had enough diapers or milk whenever I was away. And if there were office events while I was on duty, I would book a ride for my kids and our trusted helper to the office so they could participate in Halloween or Christmas parties without my needing to pick them up.

Parenting is something that we learn as we go along–hoping to keep our sanity, strength, and balance intact. And as a busy mom of two, raising kids in a digital era, I app-solutely need tools.

Must-Have Apps For Every Working Mom

I asked moms about their go-to apps that help them journey through motherhood with ease. Here’s what they have to say.

GrabCar

“Passenger princess talaga ako,” says Cherrie Julian, Smart Parenting’s Associate Video Director and mom of a sweet three-year-old girl, at the beginning of the interview.

She admits that as a commuter, she is a frequent GrabCar user, and there are many reasons for this. Ultimately, it’s about convenience.

Aside from using Grab for work, her daughter recently started preschool, so Cherrie books Grab to travel to and from her kid’s classes and back home. She continues, “Hindi mo pa iisipin yung parking, kasi pagdating dun, ida-drop na lang kami. And (during the ride) I can be more present with her.”

Mommy Cherrie prefers to use GrabCar rather than play the odds of hailing a taxi or wondering about the fare. She also values the comfort of a well-maintained, air-conditioned car, especially when she rides with her child. “As a parent, it’s my quote-unquote school bus for my child,” she adds.

She understands that it comes with a cost, but considering the usual heavy traffic, fuel expenses, and the chance to rest while traveling home, especially as a working mom, the ride becomes reasonable. Plus, when they get home, she still has to make dinner, so she says, “(The ride) saves me time and energy as a parent.”

“Yung oras at lakas na matitipid ko sa pag co-commute, pwede kong i-spend with my child,” she concludes.

GrabCar is a part of the more comprehensive Grab platform, which offers various services, including ride-hailing, food delivery, package delivery, grocery shopping, digital payments, and even “pabili” or requesting to purchase goods. It is a popular ride-hailing service in Southeast Asia. Aside from comfort and convenience, it has safety features like driver ratings and real-time tracking. You can track your ride and trace your trip history. Grab has also implemented various safety features, such as an emergency button to notify emergency contacts, share ride details so you can share your live GPS location to families and friends, and insurance coverage for passengers.

Grab also ensures that the personal contact numbers of both passengers and drivers are masked to protect the privacy and data of both parties. If there is a need to communicate, passengers and drivers can message through the app. It offers multiple payment options and promotional pricing through Grab Unlimited. Download Grab on the App Store or get it from Google Play.

GoTyme

Judy Aladin, soon to be a mom of two, one of Smart Parenting’s section editors, tells us how the GoTyme app helps her manage her finances.

“As a mom who thinks of a lot of things every day, the GoTyme Bank app is my lifesaver. Its Go Save feature helps me organize my finances and savings. Not to mention, I gain a substantial percentage of interest on my savings every month.

"In particular, the GoTyme Bank app enabled me to partition the money in my bank into different accounts so that I can set different target amounts with target dates. For example, I created a separate Go Save account when we threw a birthday party for my daughter last July. Now that I'm almost about to give birth to my second child, I also made a separate Go Save account for it.

"I have an Emergency Fund account too, and a Self-Care account where I put my own savings that I can guiltlessly spend for my own needs and wants.”

GoTyme app allows you to send, shop, and save. You can send money for free between GoTyme accounts. For other banks, you can send money for free up to three times a week. You can shop online using the app, and you can also get a free debit card. For GoTyme, as Mommy Judy mentioned, you can create sub-accounts or Go Save accounts, each with customizable target amounts and timeframes.

The account opening process takes less than 5 minutes. All you need is one valid ID. You may sign up at one of the GoTyme kiosks available nationwide or download their app today from the App store or Google Play.

Life360

“My eldest daughter regularly takes the school bus home, and Life360 has significantly eased my worries about her whereabouts. Unlike Google Maps, Life360 provides more accurate real-time location tracking. It even shows if the person is walking or in a moving vehicle,” explains Em Cruz, a mother of two children and another one of Smart Parenting’s section editors.

She adds, “The app is also easy to use. I created a group for myself, my husband, and our daughter, allowing us to track each other anytime and anywhere, as long as there’s a data signal. Life360 offers additional features like crash detection, notifications for frequently visited places, and an SOS alert function.”

Life 360 is one of the leading family safety and location-sharing apps. With Life360, one can retrace family’s past routes, check if children have arrived home, or even ask for help without saying a word through the SOS tap button which will alert other family members. Life360 is available on the App store and Google Play.

“This app helps me avoid constantly nagging my daughter to update me on her location, giving me peace of mind,” Mommy Em concludes.

Shopee / Lazada

Costumes, gift items, last minute school requirements–all in a click (or yes, maybe a few more clicks) of a button.

When I was still flying, I missed birthdays, holidays, Christmas Eves, New Year's, and some school events, because I was either out of the country or stationed out of town. It was a job I held close to my heart, but it came with those trade-offs. Celebrations would either be held before or after the fact to make up for the occasion missed.

But the school events-I could never bring them back. So when I resigned from the airline industry, I made a promise to myself to show up more and be the “semi-stage mom” to my precious little darlings.

But I was never great at do-it-yourself costumes and props, so Shopee and Lazada are my lifesaver apps. These apps also have store discounts and free shipping vouchers for costumes that, back in the day, my mom and I would brave the streets of Tutuban for. Now, I don't need to leave the house, and I can comfortably check out the things I need, including shoes and accessories.

Plus, since kids are snacking all the time and sometimes, you will find the pantry almost empty, I can also place an order for snacks and goodies that will be delivered the following day. For a working mom like myself, this is a simple but very convenient hack.

Download: Shopee on App Store or Google Play; Lazada on App Store or Google Play. 

You got this Momma!

As a mom, there are a great deal of tasks, responsibilities, and people vying for our attention–our kids, husband, household chores, errands, deadlines, and paperwork (plus our own little goals for ourselves as well).

I think most moms would agree that the end goal is not to be perfect, but to be able to maximize the time and resources we have. Asking for help, (or, perhaps in this case, downloading it), is also a display of strength and willingness to thrive.

Moms need to feel alive in this “mothering season,” and every parenting hack matters.

Do you swear by other apps that help you with parenting? Let us know in the comments below!

Read here for an app that helps parents manage their family's health records.