Sesh
(Photo : Sesh)

Parenting can bring even the most confident adult to their knees when a tantruming two year old lets loose in the supermarket. So it's no surprise that there's an app for every parenting struggle - from sleep training to college prep - and parents continue to surrender their credit cards to the cause. So why do so few work?

Parenting is highly personal. Each family has its own culture and situation, and each parent and child has their own psychology and neurology. So it's inevitable that the 'one size fits all' app can never work for everyone.

There's a new AI-powered app that's garnering attention called Sesh. It uses artificial intelligence to give parents access to science-backed strategies that fit their family style. It is a personalized coaching program - so the more parents interact with the platform, the smarter and more intuitive it becomes. 

We tried Sesh and found that for each question we asked, it recommended different techniques depending on what we asked, and  how we asked it. Sesh focuses on helping parents manage tantrums at the moment, so we asked "what do I do when my two year old has a tantrum at bedtime" and it presented a short list of smart techniques to try to get them ready for bed. 

We asked about hitting, about tantrums in public, about how parents can stop from getting annoyed... and it presented techniques for each exact situation. The recommendations came as a mixture of informative bite-sized info to teach about tantrums and why they happen, mixed with actionable  techniques to try right away. It was unlike the other apps that simply show lists of articles. It felt specific. 

This difference caught the attention of parenting guru and Silicon Valley 'godmother' Esther Wojcicki. When she wrote her book, How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results, it caught fire, and Esther has been traveling around the world ever since teaching teachers and parents alike how to raise independent children for success. "I joined Sesh as Chief Parenting Officer because Sesh's AI gives me the ability to take my teachings and techniques and deliver them as if I'm coaching each individual parent around the world."

Co-founder and CEO David Dorfman explains, "We have been fortunate to be joined by a luminary in the parenting world, who has her own story about raising three amazingly successful children. What is interesting is that she intuitively used a lot of techniques that have now been backed by child psychologists and in educational neuroscience. We are excited to have her as part of our team."

It's clear that Sesh has intentionally made it's advice judgment-free in response to the acrimony that can be found on most parenting social media threads.  "It is a revolutionary step forward for parents." Dorfman says. "Sesh was designed to provide parents with a series of recommendations, not prescriptive answers like other platforms- and a community where they can safely ask questions with confidence, knowing that the techniques and strategies recommended by Sesh have been used by experts in the parenting world."

As one might imagine, Sesh was founded by parents. It is led by a team of technologists, child psychologists, pediatricians, developmental specialists, and parenting experts. Several thousand families have checked in daily to tell the app about the day's tantrums and have been rewarded with more and more specific recommendations to help them manage tantrums. After spending three years developing their innovative technology, like all good startups,  Sesh is raising more money for rapid growth as they connect with new families and expand their focus beyond tantrums.

Co-founder and CTO cauri jaye says "One-size fits all is not a solution. We no longer have homogeneous populations. Parents today have a lot more to account for than in the past with neurodiversity, gender identity, social media, political division, the global village... our world creates highly individual people, and parents need some personalized  guidance they can trust to ensure that their children have the skills they need to succeed."

Sometimes having everything at your fingertips means it's hard to grasp anything at all. The glut of advice from Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and Google can overwhelm any parent. So maybe having curated, validated content when you need it is the way to cut through the noise. An AI coach in your pocket. 

Could Sesh be the way that an over-saturated but under-served market finally gets what it needs?

ⓒ 2024 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of techtimes.com
Join the Discussion