Today, a majority of kids in the US have mobile phones, and while the devices can help families stay in touch, the proliferation of mobile phones among the school-age set poses new challenges for busy moms and dads. It’s tough for parents to keep tabs on who their kids are calling and texting now that children have their own phones – gone are the days when mom could keep track of kids’ contacts by simply answering a central family phone.

And with hundreds of thousands of apps out there and more being launched every day, parents also have to worry about kids downloading unsuitable or unsafe apps. Another dilemma is how to monitor phone usage. Kids tend to carry their mobile phones everywhere they go, and it can be difficult to make sure they don’t use them at all hours. Data usage is another issue: Failure to keep track can result in an unpleasant surprise when the monthly phone bill arrives.

So how can busy moms keep tabs on kids’ mobile phone activities, short of reading through texts, listening in on calls and conducting daily app inspections? Now there’s a new option: the MobileKids app from Bipper. Available in Android and iPhone versions, MobileKids lets parents monitor their children’s mobile phone activities, set limits on cell phone usage, restrict data consumption and keep kids safer with GPS tracking features and an SOS button.

Installed on both the parents’ and children’s mobile phones, the MobileKids app has filtering features that allow parents to review and approve or block downloads and new contacts. The MobileKids app provides parents with daily and weekly reports on phone usage and activities. Children can also view the settings, which helps them understand their parents’ expectations.

MobileKids has time control features that allow moms to restrict mobile phone usage – at bedtime or during homework time, for example – as well as usage controls that enable parents to place limits on minutes, texts, Wi-Fi, MMS and data consumption to control phone bills.

The app also provides GPS tracking and safety features that give peace of mind to moms and kids alike: Children can use the SOS button to alert parents with a single click if they are lost or feel unsafe. Moms and dads can then use the app’s real-time tracking capabilities to locate their children. The GPS tracking feature can also be used by parents who want to make sure kids are where they are supposed to be at any given time.  

mobile communications revolution provides unprecedented capabilities and opportunities for keeping in touch, but it can also make a mom’s job a lot tougher. MobileKids can help with tools that allow busy parents to conveniently monitor and control usage and keep kids safe. Find out more at www.mobilekids.com.

The post Generation Mobile: Setting Limits and Keeping Kids Safe appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

A child’s life is made up of many firsts, like a first smile, first steps or the first day of school. Whether you are a mom here in the United States, or a mom somewhere around the globe, you love to celebrate these important milestones.

Unfortunately, all parents don’t get to celebrate these special moments. Did you know that every 20 seconds, a child around the world dies from a vaccine-preventable disease?

To change this, the UN Foundation has launched Shot@Life, a campaign aimed at providing all children with life-saving vaccines. Shot@Life educates, connects and empowers Americans to champion vaccines as the most cost-effective way to safeguard the lives of children in developing countries. The campaign provides children around the world with vaccines that prevent polio, diarrhea, measles and pneumonia. Together with its partners – the American Academy of Pediatrics, the GAVI Alliance and UNICEF—Shot@Life has mobilized a grassroots movement of moms to advocate for immunizations among their own communities.

To help spread the word, the campaign has created innovative tools to make it easy for parents like you to engage with the campaign. Recently, Shot@Life launched its new mobile app that allows parents to capture and share childhood milestones with photos on Facebook, Twitter or through email. The app also has a fantastic feature that allows parents to track developmental and health-related milestones that occur in a child’s life from ages 0 to 5.

Shot@Life is constantly thinking of new ways for parents to engage with the campaign. Right now, the campaign is asking supporters to advocate for global funding for vaccines – specifically around the fight against polio. With World Polio Day coming up on October 24, world leaders are gathering for UN General Assembly meetings in New York City this week to discuss the gap in funding needed to eliminate polio from the globe for good.

Think being an advocate for global childhood vaccines is too hard? Think again. The campaign even teaches mothers how they can get involved on their own time, even in small ways, such as creating a blog, sending a tweet or sharing information with a friend. One of Shot@Life’s “champions” recently blogged about how easy advocacy can be, especially when supporting a global cause that has a direct impact on her own children’s health and well-being, as well as those in developing countries.

 “Our entire campaign is about connecting with moms in the U.S. and showing them that children in developing countries aren’t so very different from our own children,” says Devi Thomas, director of the Shot@Life campaign. “Through campaign tools like the mobile app, parents are able to easily share how important Shot@Life is in making a difference in children’s lives throughout the world.”

Check out the Shot@Life website to learn more about how to advocate for global childhood immunizations with your own Member of Congress and hear more campaign updates on the Facebook page. The Shot@Life app is available for download on iPhone and Android mobile devices.

The post Shot@Life: Moms Fighting for Global Vaccines (and having fun while doing it!) appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.