‘HEY, ALEXA!’
3 Ways a Virtual Assistant Can Help Get Your Kids Ready for School
Even though parents and kids everywhere are getting close to celebrating the last day of school this year, school day mornings are difficult no matter what season it is. Do you feel like you’ve run a marathon by 9 a.m. every day? Rest assured that you’re not alone. Mornings are often the most hectic and stressful part of a parent’s daily schedule. Fortunately, there is an inexpensive and popular device that can help take some of the pressure off your morning routine and get your kids to the bus on time: Amazon’s virtual assistant, Alexa!
so they wake up to light instead of sound, which offers a more calming way to wake up. If your kid decides to catch a few more z’s and ignore their alarm, you can use some of Alexa’s other features, like Drop In and Intercom, to start a two-way conversation or send announcements to all the kids’ rooms in the house. Alexa can also help you check off items from your family’s morning to-do lists to minimize the chaos of weekday mornings. You can create reminders to pack lunches or grab homework, and then all you have to do is ask, “Alexa, what are my reminders?” She will run down the list, so you can hit the road early without the nagging feeling that you left something behind. REMINDERS AND LISTS
MAKE IT A GAME
“Out the Door” is an interactive Alexa game that turns getting ready for school into an adventure for younger children. Each day, kids are given a new superpower and have to defeat a different creature as they complete “missions,” which include tasks like brushing their teeth and getting dressed. It makes the process of getting ready for school exciting and gives kids an incentive to fulfill their responsibilities. If you don’t already have an Echo Dot, you can find them at most major retail stores. Make your mornings less stressful by starting with “Hey, Alexa,” and going from there.
ALARMS OF ALL KINDS
You can place an Echo Dot in your kid’s room and set an alarm that wakes them up to the weather report, a standard alarm sound, or their favorite tunes. You can also program Alexa to turn on a compatible bedside lamp
A SIMPLE PAIR OF SHOES
How This Nonprofit Is Changing Impoverished Communities Abroad
possible. They began developing other products, too, like the Bednet Buddy, a portable bed net that allows kids to sleep without worrying about contracting malaria from mosquitoes. Because International doesn’t just bring its products to impoverished communities. They bring jobs, too, manufacturing their products near the communities that need them in countries like Ethiopia and Uganda and paying their workers a livable wage. Every pair of shoes costs $20, and when you buy a pair (or several) as a donation, they’re delivered to people who need them. You can also partner with the organization directly to help fundraise and distribute shoes to areas they may not otherwise reach, or buy a pair for yourself through GroFive.com, which donates part of their profits back to Because International. In a few short years, Because International and The Shoe That Grows have given shoes to thousands of children. They don’t have to worry about outgrowing them — at least, not for a while. In impoverished communities, their impact is monumental, and it all comes back to a simple pair of shoes.
We take our shoes for granted. Most of us have at least several pairs of shoes, and some of us have dozens! If we need a new pair, we can get them from a brick-and- mortar store or online with relative ease. This makes it easy to forget that many people have to make do with shoes that don’t fit them or no shoes at all. The Shoe That Grows was born from a desire to address this disparity. On a trip to Nairobi, Kenya, in 2007, The Shoe That Grows founder Kenton Lee saw a young girl who had outgrown her shoes and cut holes in the front so her toes could poke out. This inspired Lee to develop a shoe that could grow with the child. Lee returned home to Nampa, Idaho, and got to work solving the problem with a couple of friends. Over the course of six years, they developed a durable shoe that can expand up to five sizes.
As part of the development of The Shoe That Grows, Kenton and his team also created the nonprofit Because International to get shoes to as many kids as
2 WWW.POPALOCKKY.COM
Published by The Newsletter Pro • www.thenewsletterpro.com
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog