For the first time tips and tools online to make parent’s life easier
The Bebbo app - Your partner in parenthood
Let yourself imagine… you just have given birth to your child; you have just brought your baby into this world! There is a flood of emotions – extreme happiness, boundless love, but also exhaustion, you cannot but keep thinking about what you are going to do hour after hour with this wonderful creature.
Traditionally, in Albania, people overwhelm young parents with advice, each based on their experience. A friend is eager to warn you about something that may happen, and your parents and in-laws want to pass on what they know, expecting you to comply. Information, technology, and social media at the same time have increased the amount of information that parents come by on a daily basis. At the same time, the internet has cast much doubt and uncertainty on the reliability of information related to child development.
On the eve of National Children’s Day, June 2022, UNICEF in Albania released the EU-funded “Bebbo” app - the first mobile parenting app to support parents and other child caregivers with children from zero to six years old. Since its official launch, the app has registered 4200 users.
A few months later, we visited one of the health centres, in Tirana, and we met with a young couple, Manjola and Artur. Like many other couples, they were faced with uncertainty and fear due to a lack of reliable information. Therefore, the idea of the new certified application clicked them in immediately.
“As all parents, in the beginning, I was terrified lest I would not be able to do it. What kind of a parent will I be? Will I be able to perceive my child's needs any time in the day or night? Will I be able to give my child all the necessary health and psychological care s/he needs? Should my child have any difficulties, will I be up to the job? The questions kept rising relentlessly.
“Everything I need to know, from daily care, nutrition, well-being, health, vaccination, safety, and many others I may need to research in the future, is in this application, “Bebbo”. It is in my pocket and I can carry it with me anywhere, - Manjola says.
One of the pediatricians sitting next to the couple explained to us that, in Albania, unfortunately, in this age of technology, we were missing a parenting tool that brings all these topics up in one app. The app gives parents reliable information from experts in the relevant fields and teaches them many activities they can do with the child while monitoring every aspect of their development.
“Parenthood has never been this easy. Since we discovered this application, which was introduced to us by the pediatrician when she paid a home visit to us, I feel confident I can care for my child in the right way. And my self-confidence kept increasing thanks to the information I access daily,” uttered Manjola enthusiastically.
Bebbo app can also support fathers to be actively involved in the upbringing of their children in the first years of life.
The app is useful because it defies stereotypical behaviour. Childcare and child upbringing is the responsibility of both parents. I may download games or recreational activities to stimulate the child’s brain and learn together in this process.
As new parents, not only are they enjoying parenting made easier thanks to increased information accessibility and reliability, but they are also helping other parents by sharing their experiences with other young parents in the community.
“Bebbo” app is part of a wider EU support programme, which the EU and UNICEF are implementing in Albania to help parents and caregivers to raise happy and healthy children.
