Babies on the Homefront supports family readiness through early childhood connections.
WASHINGTON – ZERO TO THREE, the leading nonprofit dedicated to ensuring babies and toddlers have a strong start in life, announced today the launch of its Babies on the Homefront™ 2.0 mobile app designed to support connections between military-connected babies, toddlers and their parents, no matter where their work takes them.
“We created Babies on the Homefront so that young children can feel their parent’s hug and see their smile, even through deployments and other military transitions.” said Julia Yeary, Director of Military Family Projects at ZERO TO THREE. “Mom can remain a part of her baby’s bedtime routine by sharing a special goodnight song in a video, and Dad can offer his son a digital thumbs up after hearing how about how helpful he was to grandma. Parents can share information about their child even when they are separated by thousands of miles, and learn together how to best support their growing child as they transition through military life.”
Over 40 percent of children of active duty service members are between the ages of 0 and 5, a period of incredible growth in all areas of a baby’s development. Sponsored by USAA, the launch of Babies on the Homefront 2.0 provides military and veteran parents ideas for enhancing everyday moments with their baby or toddler so families experiencing deployments, temporary duty assignments (TDYs), permanent change of station (PCS) moves, transitions to civilian life–or even just the everyday stressors of military life–can keep connected with their young children.
Parents and caregivers navigate the app by entering the names and ages of their children, then specifying their situation as At Home, Leaving Soon, Deployed, Home Again, a Veteran, or Visiting a Hospital. Articles and videos are then tailored to the family’s current experience, focusing on:
- Behavior tips: Ideas for handling tougher parenting moments like tantrums, or unique military challenges such as missing a deployed parent.
- PT (Play Time): Ideas for fun and soothing activities to keep the child-parent bond strong, no matter where each is.
- At Ease (Self-Care): Ideas for parents to take care of themselves, so they can take care of their babies
- Help Me Grow: Child development information and tips for optimizing a young child’s social and emotional growth.
Additional features include:
- Picture and video messaging with engaging kid-friendly emojis including hugs, kisses, and high fives;
- Shared accounts where co-parents can share moments such as baby’s new skills turning over, walking, or other firsts;
- A media gallery so parents can store and share videos of themselves reading, singing, or saying hello;
- Countdowns to special events like homecomings or holidays; and
- Private and secure cloud storage.
The free mobile app is available in the iTunes and Google Play stores. Parents can access information in either English or Spanish. Download the app and learn more at babiesonthehomefront.org.
About ZERO TO THREE
ZERO TO THREE works to ensure all babies and toddlers benefit from the family and community connections critical to their well-being and development. Since 1977, the organization has advanced the proven power of nurturing relationships by transforming the science of early childhood into helpful resources, practical tools and responsive policies for millions of parents, professionals and policymakers. For more information, and to learn how to become a ZERO TO THREE member, please visit zerotothree.org, facebook.com/zerotothree, or follow @zerotothree on Twitter.
