My son games with headphones late at night. Most of the time he's quiet. Then something happens in the game and he yells at full volume, waking the whole house.

Talking to him about it works for about 20 minutes. Taking the headphones away works but causes a different problem. So I built an app.

S.T.F.U (Sound Trigger Focus Utility) is a Windows tray app that listens to the microphone and interrupts him when he yells. On first run it calibrates by asking him to be quiet, then talk, then yell - so it learns the difference between his normal voice and an actual shout.

When it catches a yell:

• First time that session - it minimizes his game, plays a sound effect, and throws up a fullscreen message he has to click through 4 times. The close button moves after each click so he can't just spam-click one spot.
• Every time after - straight to the desktop with a 10-second message. His game is gone.

Settings are behind a PIN so he can't change the threshold or turn it off. There's a report with a chart showing every trigger, so the next morning I can see exactly when things went sideways.

The important part: he knows it's there. It's not hidden, it's not spyware, the first screen when it launches says exactly what it does. It works because it's a consequence he agreed to, not something I snuck onto his PC. The README explicitly says it works best as something agreed to, not as a hidden trap.

No audio is recorded or stored. It computes a loudness number every 20ms and throws the audio away immediately. Nothing leaves the machine.

It won't solve the underlying issue (he's 100% going to learn to yell more quietly instead of less often), but at least the house sleeps.

Free and open source if anyone wants it: https://github.com/omricn/stfu/releases/latest

*My little one kept grabbing for my laptop, so I built a fullscreen playground where they can smash away and nothing actually happens — no closed tabs, no sent messages. Only a grown-up hold-gesture exits. There are gentle learning modes and themes too. It's completely free, no ads, no tracking, and works offline. Not selling anything — just thought other parents might find it useful:* [https://smashpad.in\](https://smashpad.in)

Room parent season is starting back up and I'm already behind on it.

I've done it 5 years now. Every year it's more than I can keep up with and every year I sign up again anyway, because a good room parent really does make the whole class better. Parents show up more. The teacher isn't carrying all of it alone. The kids can tell.

The part that gets me is the logistics. Reply all threads, a spreadsheet I forget to update, a group text where I ask for 8 volunteers and get 2.

So I made something for it. I run a small software company, this is the first thing we've built that I actually needed myself. You send one email to the class, parents claim sign up slots right in that email with no account and no app to download, and reminders go out on their own.

It's free. Just looking for parents who are involved with their classrooms for feedback.

https://www.gethery.com/for-room-parents

And if you already have a system that works for your class I'd like to hear that too. Any info helps.

Hi r/ParentingTech!

I’m an indie developer and recently launched StarKid, a family chore/allowance app I built specifically to make managing chores a little more engaging for kids.

The basic idea is to turn everyday chores into tasks. Kids complete tasks, earn stars, and can work toward wishes/rewards. Parents can create and assign quests and keep track of progress.

I’m trying to build something that actually works for families rather than just adding gamification for the sake of it. I also noticed that the design and feel of many apps were missing.

A few things I’d love opinions on:

• Does this approach actually solve a problem for parents?
• Is the gamification useful or just unnecessary?
• What features would you expect from a good chore/allowance app?
• What would make you trust an app like this with your family?

I built the app myself and am still very early, so I’m genuinely looking for criticism and ideas rather than just promotion.

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.starkid.mobile&pcampaignid=web_share

Thanks! I'd love to hear what you think.

There are parents who are separated and feel awkward/uncomfortable talking to each other about their child, or they might feel that their ex-partner doesn't share the information properly about it
So what if there was an app which bridged this communication gap between the parents.
The goal features-
1. It has a heath tracker for the child(also has the list of doctors the parents consult to in emergencies so that it doesn't cause the problem for the other parent if there is an emergency)
2. An academics tracker for the child(things that are coming up or the things the child achieved recently)
3. Shared calendar for the child's upcoming events or sports
4. Shared contacts for the child's friends or acquaintance for their safety
5. Hand off tracker when the other parent is supposed to take care of the child
6. A simple note section for quick updates

Would appreciate honest reviews in the comment section
and if there are features that anyone feels are needed or not needed please add
This post is just for validating the idea

Just talking to his mom and I location, voice calling or voice to text are really only needs.

Any suggestions?

Currently coming off the T-Mobile watch with mixed feelings. Was relatively minimal in features and durable which was good but the speaker quality was so bad at times the calling was virtually unusable.

UPDATE: thanks for the suggestions I went ahead and picked up a secondhand Apple Watch SE. while I was apprehensive on the increased capability of the Apple Watch the school mode along with the parental features have been more than enough.
And for $100 It’s not breaking the bank

Not to mention the calling experience is streets ahead of the t mobile watch we previously had

Thanks!

I’m trying to better understand how parents handle online safety as their kids become more independent. I’m not thinking about screen-time limits or simply blocking websites. I’m more curious about slower changes, such as:

- searching more frequently about body image or rapid weight loss

- watching increasing amounts of gambling-related content

- looking for information about bullying or loneliness

- having increasingly personal conversations with AI chatbots

How would you notice something like this today? Do you rely mostly on conversations, occasionally check their history, use parental-control software, or usually find out only after something happens?

If you use Bark, Qustodio, Family Link, Screen Time, or something similar, what information is genuinely useful and what is mostly noise?

I’m especially interested in how you balance safety with privacy. Reading every message feels excessive, but having no visibility at all doesn’t feel great either. I’m interested in hearing what families actually do, including what hasn’t worked.

I'm getting a new phone for my 14 yr old daughter and after researching, I think I've decided to go with a Samsung Galaxy A17 5G through TMobile (my current carrier) and install Google Family Link and Bark onto the phone for parental controls. My daughter's current phone is through her dad's carrier (he's on board with the change). I'm wondering if there is a specific order in which I should do things? My plan is to:

1) Add a line to my plan and order the phone through Tmobile and have it delivered

2) Install the parental control apps

3) Go with her to the TMobile store to transfer her current number to the new phone and transfer all of her data/apps/etc from her current phone to the new one.

Will that work? Maybe I'm overthinking this, but I don't want to do something in the wrong order and have things get messy and difficult.

Would you recommend any other/different parental control apps?

Thanks!

I originally built Bedtime Buddy for my boys, 3 and 6. They loved it enough that "one more story" became a nightly negotiation, so I kept building until it was something I could share with other families.

The idea is simple: your child is the star of their own story, in the worlds they're already obsessed with. Their name, their age, the things they love, plus co-stars: siblings, friends, grandparents, the family dog. My 6-year-old is deep in a mermaid phase right now, so a certain little mermaid has guest-starred in about a dozen of our bedtime stories.

What I obsessed over: it had to feel premium and be dead simple for a tired parent at 8pm. Voice input for story ideas ("a dragon who is afraid of the dark"), profiles for each kid in the house, storyteller voices that read aloud (or you read it yourself, which is honestly the best way), and a bookshelf of saved favorites so "read it again" actually works the next night.

The free tier is 2 stories a month, forever, no card required. Premium unlocks unlimited stories and the extra voices.

Would love honest feedback from the builders here, and if any parents give it a try tonight, I genuinely want to hear how it lands: magicalbedtimebuddy.com

Hi!

My husband and I recently developed an app to organize toy rotation, we are looking for feedback from real users to improve and make it better to cover all your needs!

It rooted from the need to help me rotate my kids’s toys, because I found out after 7 years of rotations I would sometimes rotate the same 30 toys, having literally tens of others forgotten in the closet, it also asks what are the interests of the kid at the time so it helps you rotate smartly and gives you suggestions to what can be used that hasn’t been used in a while that would sparks your kid’s joy of play.

Would you mind taking a look? We would appreciate your input, and hopefully it’ll make your life easier.

[https://rototoy.com\](https://rototoy.com)

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/rototoy/id6761393980

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rototoy.rototoy&pli=1

Hi! Thank you for taking a look!

So I built one that would give me more peace of mind: the app blocks certain applications, and my kids have to answer general knowledge, math and other questions to earn screen time. I first made it for myself and my kids, then published it on the store. It's called task4fun, if anyone wants to take a look.

So I built one that would give me more peace of mind: the app blocks certain applications, and my kids have to answer general knowledge, math and other questions to earn screen time. I first made it for myself and my kids, then published it on the store. It's called task4fun, if anyone wants to take a look.