Let’s be very honest, taking care of children is an extremely demanding task and can take up as much time, attention, and energy as a full-time job. And owing to our social norms, this responsibility generally tends to fall on women. As a result, female parents are left struggling with multiple responsibilities. No wonder every year several thousand women end up leaving the workforce because of childcare responsibilities.
And it’s not just women, if you are a single parent living in America, life is the epitome of hard. Juggling work with your childcare responsibilities can become very draining and you often end up ignoring one or the other.
On top of all this, accessing prompt, economical, and trustworthy childcare is no easy task. Asking around your relatives and neighbors for people they have employed consumes a lot of time. And it’s impossible to give away your child to a person you know nothing about.
Luckily, much like every other aspect of our lives, modern technology has come with several solutions to this problem. There is no shortage of childcare apps on both app stores that can help you connect with a variety of childcare options.
In fact, there are so many of these apps out there that selecting the right one can become a bit confusing. This write-up is directed towards trying to rectify this exact confusion. But before we start talking about the amazing apps on our list, here is a quick pointer.
All of the apps mentioned in this list require ready access to the fast-paced internet. If your broadband is not reliable or keeps on lagging you will not be able to make the most out of these apps.
So, before you start searching make sure that you have your internet situation figured out. Established internet service providers (ISP) like Cox Internet equip their customers with lightning-paced connectivity at budgeted costs and utilize them.
Now that we have the infrastructure figures out, let’s move back to discussing childcare. Here is a list of three top childcare apps for working parents.
ZUM
Zum is perhaps the most unique app on this list, because in addition to providing traditional babysitting services the app is directed toward providing reliable transportation solutions for kids. The app can help you arrange pick and drop to and from your child’s school, and from after-school extra-curricular activities, and even summer camps.
Zum drivers, or Zummers, are mostly experienced childcare professionals and have their vehicles properly vetted by the app. In addition to merely driving your child from one point to the other, the drivers are expected to take care of their needs during the ride. On top of this, if you are late or are helped up the app gives you the option of having the driver babysit your child until you get home, of course, you will be charged extra for that, but it’s worth every penny.
The only downside of the app is that it is only available in the San Francisco Bay area, but the company is looking to launch in other major metropolitan areas very soon.
URBAN SITTER
Unlike the previous entry on the list which was available to a lucky few living in a small part of the country, Urban Sitter is available in most of the major urban areas of the country and has so far been able to benefit over a Million parents looking for childcare.
Urban Sitter is based on a marketplace model whereby both parents and sitters can create accounts on the app and be connected to each other on demand.
Much like every other major babysitting app, Urban Sitter carries out extensive research on the people it employs and goes one step further by getting its sitters verified by third-party background verification services like Evident ID.
The most unique attribute of Urban Sitter is its Artificially Intelligent matching feature. The app goes through Facebook and other social media accounts of people who sign up for it to establish connections and makes very relevant suggestions.
So, once you request the app to connect you to a sitter, it makes suggestions from out of a pool of people who have previously been employed by your neighbors or other people in your local area, talk about relevance, right?
CARE.COM
Care.com boasts about being the number one caregiving app in the United States, and there are several reasons behind this ranking. First and foremost is the sheer time this platform has spent connecting sitters to parents. Secondly, the app carries out very extensive background checks of the people it trusts to take care of your children.
In addition to Child Care, Care.com also provides Eldercare, Pet care, and even housekeeping services for its users. Making it a one-stop shop solution for people with a vast variety of caretaking needs.
FINAL THOUGHTS
If both you and your partner are working parents, taking care of children throughout the day can become a daunting task. And finding trustworthy sitters through traditional means can be very time taking. Luckily, web applications like the ones we have mentioned in this list are a quick way of finding trustworthy and budget-friendly care for your children.
