Apple Watch: Is it worth it for Moms?

I am a forgetful person, too much on my mom-teacher brain at all times. As my husband would say, I have too many 'tabs' open (both in my brain and on my laptop). I use an Erin Condren Planner (see my Instagram and Plan With Me posts) and a hanging wall calendar I use for the family calendar but that doesn't always help when I am in the middle of doing dishes or getting ready for bed and thinking of what time I need to get up for the next day.

As mentioned, I am a mom and a teacher. And I use my Apple Watch for both of those wonderful roles of mine and more!

In this post, I am just going to focus on how I use my Apple Watch as a Mom. CLICK HERE to read my blog post on how I use it as a Teacher.

How do I use my Apple Watch as a Mom?

1. Appointment Alarms/Reminders

2. Phone-Free Texting

3. Finding my iPhone

4. Activity Tracking

5. Cycle Tracking

This list is limited to watch I use my Apple Watch on a daily basis, but I have used many other features from time to time. But let's start here.

#1: Similar to how I use my Apple Watch in the classroom, the number one way I use my Apple Watch as a mom is for Appointment Alarms/Reminders. For family appointments, events, and activity planning I have mainly used a paper planner and a wall calendar as mentioned. It wasn't really until this summer that I started using my iPhone's Calendar to create reminders for family matters and recurring events.

Namely, this has been extremely helpful in remembering doctor's appointments, practice days/times (our oldest is in T-Ball currently), and playdates.

How do I do it? I first create the event on my phone's calendar then I set my Apple Watch face to show "Your Schedule" under the time. Not only will it send me a reminder before the event time, but until that time hits, it will also display on the watch face the time and name of the appointment as a continual visual reminder.

|"hey there JULY" Background

by Callie Danielle @shop.callie.danielle|

#2: Let me start off by saying I do not have a phone plan for my Apple Watch. Honestly, unless you are an avid runner or gym person where you don't want to bring your phone with you on a routine basis I don't think a phone plan is worth it for your watch. Namely, because you can still use it and its texting features if you are in a wifi area.

That brings us to the second way I use my phone. I forget my phone all over my house, I forget it at home when I go to work on occasion, and many times my kids use it to watch YouTube. So more often than not, it's not on my person 24/7. But with my Apple Watch, I can still send and receive text messages, which has saved me on more than one occasion, especially if I left my phone at home and I am at work.

#3: Following the train on how forgetful I am and how I lose my phone frequently, the "Ping" feature on the Apple Watch is one of its best features! From your Apple Watch, you can send a signal to your iPhone to ping loudly in order to find it. It has been very helpful, especially if your kids manage to stuff your phone in the couch cushions as mine do often.

#4: I have started yet another journey into losing the 'baby weight' after my daughter Allison has been born and in preparation for baby #3 (maybe? fingers crossed!). I have been working out at home using the Beach Body On Demand (BOD) videos and app. The BOD app also works on the Apple Watch. Once I start the video on my iPhone it sends a prompt to my Apple Watch asking if I want to track my activity. It's a relatively easy and convenient way to track my activity minutes, burned calories, etc. Moreover, on Activity Tracking, the Apple Watch can track your steps, active minutes, and more, much like a Fitbit.

#5: Lastly, and this might be too much information for some, but we are trying for baby #3 for our family. I preface this with TMI because I have an irregular, long-as-heck cycle. I average between 33-43 days. Making cycle and ovulation tracking complete guesswork. I have been using my Apple Watch to help track and narrow down, to about 10-days, when I might be getting my period and when I should start taking pregnancy tests, etc. It's not a perfect system but having it on my watch I actually find that I use the app with more fidelity.

Overall Opinion: Is the Apple Watch worth it for moms? Not really. Everything you can essentially do on your phone, it's just a luxury item in this way. Is it cool, sleek, and fancy pants? Most definitely! Could you find other ways to have it help with your mommy ways? I think so. I could see a mom use this to help with breastfeeding, timeout timer, etc. But again, I don't think the Apple Watch is necessary, just a luxury way to do it.

I hope that helps any moms, like myself, who are on the fence about getting an Apple Watch for their mom lives.

All the Best,

Emily