It is a common fact that the first few years of a child's life are the most crucial for their development, both physically and mentally. Sumedha Khoche and Shireen Sultana, two Indian mothers who pursued their MBA together and jointly climbed the business ladder in Singapore, certainly understood the importance of this fact. Last year, they set up KinderPass, a web application offering at-home activities for parents to do with their little children. In December, they officially launched it as an app.
"KinderPass emerged from our own experiences as working parents. We were time-starved with so many different demands. From where we stood, we started to notice that phones were being assigned the role of both teacher and babysitter in many parent-child dynamics, including our own. Babies were getting iPhones before their first tooth! Such passive viewing of videos is actually detrimental to a child’s developing brain. Little kids learn best through play, interactions with adults and by activities that involve all the senses." explains Sumedha. It was after studying over 50 research papers and books on neuroscience, early childhood education and Montessori teaching philosophies that they set up the platform to try and change this growing trend.
The app offers more than 1,200 bite-sized activities for children aged between 0 and 4 years. These are screen-free exercises and activities that parents can do with their kids in the comfort of their own homes without the need to use expensive materials. Since the activities are also Montessori-inspired, they are child-led and actually help children become independent. For all the activity recommendations, there is a section on the app that helps parents understand what their child will learn from a particular activity. Currently, they are working on adding online learning modules for children between 4 and 6 years.
Speaking about the activities, Shireen elaborates, "These activities have been carefully designed to fit a busy parent’s schedule. They have been designed for everyday situations — things that can be done during meal time, waiting time or even during a trip to the store! The activities for the next day are customised based on each day’s feedback. And we personalise them based on the age and development of the child. Each user falls within 3 different activities each day."
The app also comes equipped with a growth tracker and milestone assessment based on WHO, AAP, HPB and IAP guidelines. KinderPass comes with a simple, self-administered tool that helps parents keep track of physical markers such as height and weight and monthly milestone checks to help raise red flags early on. They also have a library that is equipped with more than 400+ articles and videos related to each week of the parenting journey. Since the founding duo is very familiar with the biggest mom concerns, they also plan to add more than 300 recipes and meal plans for infants and toddlers.
