Introducing the parental insights app Bosco, built out of love for our kids
Mommy. Daddy. Such a small, little, non-threatening, cute-sounding word, but with a world of responsibility behind it. A world full of excitement, worry, admiration, anxiety, happiness, fear, and love - unconditional love.
It's hard to create a little person, keep him alive, and then on top of it make them happy. We can hardly make ourselves happy, none the less another being.
Parenting is absolutely one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs we can have as humans. It's a job that no matter what we do, and how hard we try, will always feel like we are under-performing.
As parents our biggest fear is failure. Failure of being a good parent, of being a good role model, of being a safety net. Failure of doing the right thing for them, of saying the right thing at the right time, and of being there for them when they need us the most.
Our biggest frustration is our lack of control. They start their lives, they build their own world, and we have limited say in it and no guarantees that they're safe. We can't be certain that they're not exposed to danger even by the people closest to them.
At the same time that we want to give them wings, we also want to have built-in cameras on these wings with shooting darts we can point at anyone who tries to hurt them. Ideally, we would love to be ON these wings and fly along with them, but we can't.
And that's worrisome because the risks are real. There's cyberbullying, depression and suicide, stranger danger, sexual harassment, and the list goes on.
The potential harm toֲ our children has many faces and, now, many channels of communications. Our kids spend hours on their smartphones and each minute magnifies the dangers. We can't control what our kids are doing online, but we can use their smartphones as tools to make sure they're safe and be there for them when they need us most.
For that, we created Bosco.
Bosco is a parental insights app that sends parents reports on their kid's moods, alerts on suspicious calls, notices of unusual behavior on Facebook, and warnings if their kid's phone battery is about to die.
Bosco uses voice and text analysis to understand if kids are sad or depressed, fearful or anxious. If anything isn't right, the application will send an alert to parents that reminds them to start a conversation and see what's wrong. Meanwhile, it will tell parents if any unrecognized callers over 18 dialed your kids or if a large number of people unfriended him or her on Facebook. Finally, Bosco will send you a notice if your kid's phone is about to die, along with his or her location.
Unlike other apps, Bosco is designed in a way that is not invasive to our children's privacy. We don't read personal conversations or view photos - and neither will you. Because of our advanced algorithm, we don't have to. That means you won't spend hours pouring over personal conversations.
Instead, you only get notifications when your child is in need, and we'll tell you why. Otherwise, you'll get access to a daily report that'll show everything's A-OK and leave your mind at ease.
There is no other parental insights app out there that gives you only whatֲ you need and none of the baggage.
When they are babies all they wanted to do was sit on our lap, look into our eyes, and listen to our voice. As they get older, they may grow farther from us, but it's our job to be there when they need us most. Bosco may not be a perfect solution, but it will give us a chance to facilitate conversation and stay connected.
Let's listen to our children, even when they don't feel like talking to us. Let's be there for them, even when they push us away. Let's connect with our children, better, through insightful tech that like never before.
This is why we are here - to be there for them. And that is what Bosco is for.
Yours,
Limor Ben Ari
CEO, Bosco
