As a parent who is on the go while maintaining child care arrangements, they may wonder what is the best co parenting app for them. Technology has not just helped in improving the economic status of the globe but it has also assisted in improving the quality of life of people.
Smartphone applications continue to develop to entertain us and make our lives easier. What if these applications can also help separated parents find an easy way to formulate parenting plans? Parenting plans are a result of separation. Divorce or separation affects children in more ways than one since they need proper care to grow into mature individuals.
In Australia, parents have the duty and obligation to raise and care for their children regardless of divorce or separation. This type of parenting is referred to as co parenting. Parents who choose to co-parent share parenting and decision-making duties equally.
There are two ways to accomplish this; jointly or individually. Parents can provide their children with the best results via co-parenting. It’s generally the best method of parenting. In this modern age of technology, a co parenting app is a great choice for separated parents to make decisions at the convenience of their screens.
What To Look For in a Co Parenting App
Unfortunately, there is no perfect parenting app for separated or divorced parents since it will depend on their circumstances. Hence, separated or divorced parents should try their best to decide whether they will settle with a parenting app or use other co parenting apps. If they do need a parenting app, they should choose an app that they both feel comfortable using. Therefore, separated parents should see if the app has:
- Basic communication tools
- Customisable calendars
- Storage for shareable digital files (report cards, medical records, work schedules, receipts)
What Co Parenting App Should You Use?
1. TimeTree
TimeTree is an application that allows family members and even friends to organise their schedules and plans. App users may basically:
- Chat on the event calendar
- Share notes and lists; and
- Create multiple schedules.
2. Cozi
Parents can use Cozi and create shared calendars and to-do lists, share images and recipes with loved ones, and more. It is simple to use and totally free, although there are ads. Despite not being a co-parenting software specifically, it offers all the features parents need to coordinate family schedules between two residences.
3. Famcal
Famcal is primarily a calendar and scheduling app that enables separated families to communicate about events, tasks, and notes. Parents may find it easy to use since the colour-coded organiser clearly identifies users. Famcal’s free version only offers basic features. However, parents may upgrade to the premium version if they want to access features like shared contacts and event tracking.
4. Google Calendar
While busy professionals use this famous app for work meetings, it’s a practical approach that can benefit anyone for coordinating get-togethers. this also translates to parents who can use it for childcare arrangements. Google Calendar is a free and simple-to-use app that is installed by default on most smartphones.
Many parents may use this free co parenting app if they want to keep each other informed and organised when it comes to their kids.
5. MyMob
Stepfamilies Australia and Drummond Street Services developed the parenting app, MyMob. It basically includes the following:
- Shared calendar
- Contact storage
- Wish lists
- Profanity-filtering messaging; and
- Virtual fridge where you can post notes and pictures
Numerous separated parents use this application due to court orders.
6. Appclose
Appclose is a free parenting application. This app basically has features that are only seen in premium apps. Parents may also use the messaging tool to interact with family members and manage their own calendars. Furthermore, separated or divorced parents may also create a:
- Shared parenting plan
- Payment tracking; and
- Settlement payments.
Co Parenting App: Free Trial Applications
You read that right. Thankfully, there are free trial applications for parents who want to test out if a co parenting app can work for them. Read on to learn more about these applications.
1. Our Family Wizard
Our Family Wizard (OFW) includes a number of tools that are intended to improve communication between co-parents in all areas. It is also used by third parties and experts alike and is offered in desktop and mobile versions. Parents who use the shared calendar feature of this application can establish:
- A shared parenting calendar that keeps track of parenting time
- Future appointments
- Child changeovers
Co-parents can seek one-time changes to parenting times through the app. Requests that are granted automatically alter the parenting schedule and are recorded in the app. Co-parents can communicate with one another, their children, and other family members via the OFW Message Board.
Communications are altogether recorded, downloadable, and unremovable through the app. This programme stands out for its user-friendly Tone Meter, which basically acts as an “emotional spell-check” and urges parents to behave civilly.
As parents type messages within the app, the Tone Meter analyses their language. It highlights any words or phrases that might be considered emotionally charged or aggressive. For example, Parent A types, “Can I ever expect to get your act together?”. The Tone Meter would flag this as potentially aggressive to Parent B.
2. 2Houses
Separated or divorced parents may have separated due to clashing parenting styles that did not work out in the end. 2Houses is a co parenting app that aims to unite people with different parenting styles between two houses. This app’s custody scheduling supports:
- Recurring appointments
- Calendar syncing
- Importing school calendars and immunisation schedules
- Colour-coding events, and
- Swapping entries by requesting schedule changes
As a matter of fact, one unique aspect of 2Houses is that collaborative lawyers or mediators can have complete read-only access to the entire account.
3. We Parent
A psychologist founded the WeParent co parenting app. It offers a place for both parents to organise paperwork, custody plans, communications, finances, and appointments. The app provides a blog with helpful tips for divorced families and allows participation from children over the age of 13. Some more features of this co parenting app include:
- Shared calendar. Co-parents can enter recurring events, manage adjustments, and create coloured-coded parental timetables. Other family members or outsiders can access the calendar.
- Finance management systems. Co-parents can manage shared expenses with this feature in order to categorise costs and help users to keep track of their spending.
- Messages. Co-parents can keep track of all conversations through messages. Conversations are permanently archived and can be printed out.
- Information Banks. This feature is a database especially made for all contact and health-related information.
Should You Use a Co Parenting App?
Indeed, these certain applications can help separated parents make more detailed parenting plans. However, it all depends on the way parents communicate with each other. Parents shouldn’t overlook proper communication and understanding just because there are applications that are readily available. Imagine a co parenting app as a fancy planner – it helps organise the details.
But it doesn’t write down the thoughts, feelings, or compromises that go into creating a workable parenting plan. Moreover, there are laws that parents should follow their child’s best interests. This is where lawyers can step in and help draft the perfect arrangement or plan for your children that adheres to family law standards.
Co Parenting Paired With Legal Advice
When it comes to parenting arrangements, it’s important for people to seek legal advice. Family lawyers, together with co parenting apps, can aid with making modern-day shared custody schedules in Australia. Disputed or not, parents have easy and free access to all of our examples of co parenting apps.
Parents may also seek help from a family lawyer regarding what kind of parenting arrangements to place on their co parenting apps. JB Solicitors is a family law firm that helps disputed family members find out the best parenting arrangement for their children.
We also have mediation and arbitration services if parties want to come to an agreement regarding their family law matter. Our team can help parents decide which co parenting apps are best suited for their situation.
Message a family lawyer today if you need help with choosing the best co parenting app for your child custody matters.