A few days ago, I received a very heart warming email from a father. He is divorced and has had challenges keeping in touch with his children after the separation. He recently stumbled across Kids In Touch and is thrilled to be able to reach out to his children more easily now.
When I started building Kids In Touch, I knew it could be a game changer for how children communicated with their friends and extended family. It never occurred to me that the app could also help keep divorced parents in their kids' lives.
Coming from a divorced family myself, I know how hard it can be to keep in touch with a distant parent. Kids don't do well with talking on the phone. The parents are living completely separate lives and can't allow "drop-ins" all the time, if ever.
Kids In Touch can provide a safe and fun way for the non-custodial parent to text with their children. With the app, the absent parent can communicate easily without interfering with the daily lives of their former spouse.
For the custodial parent, Kids In Touch can be a great way to allow their ex to talk with the children as well. They don't have to arrange convenient times to talk. They don't have to manage the awkwardness when making and receiving the phone calls. Even better, it allows the custodial parent to keep track of what their children are doing and saying with the other parent.
Clearly this is a delicate area. "Spying" is not what I'm encouraging. However, with many divorces, there are significant problems that may make it unsafe to allow unfettered communication between the spouse and the children. Kids in Touch lets all the parents text their children while keeping a safety net of oversight.
Even better, Kids In Touch allows a child to communicate with both their parents in the same manner during times apart. If the child is off with Dad for the summer, she can easily stay in touch with Mom the whole time. If the kids are with Mom for the weekend, Dad can text to let him know he misses them.
Some families might resort to traditional texting to allow divorced parents to keep in touch. However, this can come with a lot of risks and costs. Giving a young child a cell phone might not be a very good idea. With todays' smart phones, a child can too easily get involved in unsafe activities. Paying for a dedicated phone is also quite expensive.
If you're using Kids In Touch in a unique way, I'd love to hear about it. Please feel free to reach out via the comments below, our support email, or Twitter.
