Calgarians launch app to make it easier for parents to find daycare

Finding the right daycare for their children can be frustrating for parents, but a pair of Calgarians are coming to the rescue.

After recently becoming fathers, Craig Pearce and Brandon Parsons launched the Kid Genius app this week, to connect parents with daycare facilities, preschools or other child care centres.

Pearce says that after his child was born, he quickly realized it would not be a walk in the park to find a daycare.

“A lot of the big places have really long wait lists. So my wife and I have our kid on the Mount Royal wait list and she’s been on there for probably about a year and we haven’t heard anything from them,” Pearce said. “In addition, I know the University of Calgary, on their website, actually states that they have a wait list of over 800 kids.”

The main point of the app is to help parents find the child care location that is most convenient to their needs.

“It allows them to search not only by the home address, but their work address, find places that are along their commute, and really get down into the details of what they are looking for, whether it’s a preschool or a licensed facility compared to an unlicensed facility, for example,” Pearce added.

It also provides parents with daily updates, including pictures, what their child ate, or how long they napped.

“Parents, when they see that report card, they know whats going on. They can see photos, and then they can find out when their kid had a nap and how long their naps were for,” Pearce said. “When you get home and your kid’s grumpy and stuff, you can kind of figure out why if they only had a short little nap during the day.”

Daycares need to sign up for the app, and then parents can download it onto their cellphones or tablets.

For more information, go to kidgenius.daycareiq.com.