A startup called Parento has launched its first app on iOS and Android – called O’Daddy, the purpose of the app is to encourage parents to put down their smartphones and spend time with their kids instead.
Parents are given suggestions by the app of activities that can be done according to the child’s age, the location of the family’s home, and other information. The app might also suggest activities based on activities of parents who are similar to the user.
Brandy Shaul of Adweek writes that O’Daddy can also remind parents to spend some quality time with their children through push notifications. The text may suggest that users get home to read a bedtime story to their kids.
Pushing the O’Daddy button takes the user to “Quality Time” mode. On this screen, the amount of time users spend away from their smartphones is measured, and also, theoretically, the time spent with their children. Fifteen minutes of quality time earns the user O’Daddy Smiles, which is a part of the app’s system of rewards. Eventually, the O’Daddy Smiles will be eligible to be redeemed for cash discounts at retail establishments.
The designers say that parents will be able to compare their stats with other users in the future by privately and anonymously using the app.
In today’s world, says Diogo Costa of TechCo, balancing work and family often seems like a losing battle. Oded Israeli, CEO and co-founder of O’Daddy, thinks he has found an application that will help put the family back on top of everyone’s priority list.
Israeli left his successful startup to give more time to the development of O’Daddy, which he co-founded with two other partners. The app was introduced in Barcelona this year at the Mobile World Congress. The theme of the event was “Mobile is Everything.” But Israeli explained:
“Mobile makes our kids compete for our attention, makes us miss important moments in our kids’ lives, and gets both us and our kids addicted and apathetic. We want to turn the mobile device back to a tool that actually helps parents and kids spend quality time together.”
The four methods the app uses to assist parents are creating time through the push notifications that alert parents to leave work and be with their kids. It suggests activities based on preferences and other criteria, it rewards parents for focusing on their children and not on work, and it tracks quality time with children much like fitness apps.
Israeli said on Linkedin that becoming a father was the best thing that ever happened to him. When his son was born, his baby became the most important thing in his life. Suddenly his priorities were reshuffled and his perspective changed dramatically. Being a father was his most important job.
He believes that Generation X fathers are different than their own dads. He adds that spending time with their kids is something that today’s fathers want to do and work at being able to do – essentially, this was Israeli’s motivation to create O’Daddy.
