Working Parents: Feel Like You’re Always There with Karoo

Ah, I remember the days all too well (i.e. ahem, last year).  I’d be at work, an hour away from home, buried in legal docs or in a never-ending meeting when I’d get a text message from our nanny that [insert a kid's name here] just took her first step or lost a tooth or [insert other cute thing/milestone here].  It sucked and I never felt so far away from my little guys as I did during those times.  Even though I had The Best Nanny EVER.

I juggled a full-time legal career with being a mom to my 3 small kids for 8 years and trust me, I know first-hand just how stressful that entire situation can be.  Finding solutions for working moms to simplify their lives is a personal mission of mine – it all started with my sharing personal stories about the challenges of being a working mom on my first blog.  And, of course, that’s what inspired me to create the {re}Treat Yourself Lifestyle Event Series and have the focus of the first {re}Treat be on working mothers.  The exciting thing is that more and more resources are becoming available to help working parents streamline and and problem-solve and innovation promises so much more to come.

So imagine my delight (and, ahem, a tad bit of regret that it was not available before now) when I learned about a new iPhone app from Care.com called Karoo.

Features:

Karoo is an iPhone app (coming soon to Android!) from Care.com that helps parents, caregivers and relatives stay connected and share all the moments of childhood as they happen.  I had the privilege of sitting in on a demo call surrounding the beta launch of the app and logged off of the call looking forward to giving it a try and sharing it with friends and family.  Here’s the skinny:

• It’s a Digital Memory Book, CareLog, and Private Social Network all in one.
• Your child’s caregiver can download the app on her/his smartphone and capture and share photos, video and stories which are then shared with you (and whomever else you want in on the updates).
• If you have more than one child, each can have their own timeline updated with their milestones and daily activities
• YOU decide who can see the timeline, since Karoo is a private, safe network that stores the information on a secure server.
• All of your family memories will be in one place (imagine!) and you can update everyone following your timelines at once (think: Grandparents + Aunties + Special Friends, etc.)

What I like most is the easy-to-use and aesthetically pleasing user interface.  Also, I’ve got tons of pics of my kids on my iPhone and sometimes I’m reluctant to share them on Facebook because, well, they’re my kids and privacy is important to me.  And, instead of having a slew of random texts sharing pics and updates, with Karoo everything will be in one place.

Also in the works? The ability to create a hardcopy memory book from your Karoo timelines = score!

Best of all? Karoo is FREE. Check ‘em out:

This post is sponsored by Karoo. All opinions are my own.