Five Ways Alexa Helps Families Prepare for the Months Ahead
Encouraging connectivity.
Social distancing brought a new appreciation for technology when staying connected to loved ones became a challenge. Throughout all of this, Alexa continues to be an accessible method for families to stay connected. Using the Drop In feature, parents can easily check on their kids from the other room, just say, “Alexa, drop in on Sam’s room.” Parents can also easily make announcements to the family in different parts of the household by saying “Alexa, announce that it’s time for breakfast.”
Increase Productivity.
More time being spent at home comes with larger piles of laundry, more dirty dishes, and perhaps an extra trash bag (or two). Keeping on top of the family to finish their chores gets old fast, so why not use Alexa to remind them for you. Through voice activation, parents can keep the household running smoothly by setting reminders, to-do lists, and even timers. For example, say, “Alexa, create a new reminder” to make sure Trash Day doesn’t get missed, set an alarm to make ensure kids get to appointments on time by saying “Alexa, set an alarm”, or encourage friendly competition by setting up a creative timer. Just say “Alexa, set a Room Cleaning Contest timer for 20 minutes”, and see who gets it done fastest.
Cultivating patience.
Easy activation of Alexa, while convenient, can also offer the challenge of conflicting commands by different family members at the same time – like when it comes to choosing the music! In these cases, many parents have used the opportunity to instill patience and mediation in their families lives. Creating different playlists for members of the family, for moods or scheduled activities is one way to find some harmony amongst family members. Just say “Alexa, create a new playlist.” Get even more specific by asking “Alexa, create Sam’s work out playlist” or “Alexa, create mom’s serenity playlist”.
“Since last March, Alexa has helped me stay organized and make daily life more convenient while working from home with two young children at home too. Some things that are helping me personally are daily to-do lists, asking Alexa to remind me to do things like water the plants or switch the laundry, and of course asking Alexa to play background music to help me focus”.
Celine Lee, Country Manager for Alexa in Canada
Taking a (well-deserved) break.
Alexa offers a wide variety of game and entertainment skills that can help keep kids stimulated so parents can take a breather. Stories, songs, jokes, games and trivia are all available at voice command – some are even educational! Say “Alexa, play would you rather for families” to play a family-friendly version of the game of impossible choices, or “Alexa, play Beat the Intro.” to play “Name That Tune” in a whole new format. Or, opt for quite time by playing a podcast for the kids by saying “Alexa, play the podcast [name of podcast].
Fostering communication.
With so many skills and features available, Alexa provides a great opportunity for parents to reinforce speech and hearing skills by teaching kids to listen clearly and modify language so Alexa can understand. Alexa can also help families encourage polite communication (“Alexa, please stop” over “Alexa, stop”) as well as use educational skills like Vocabulary Master to teach new words.
Thank you Amazon Canada for providing the story for my readers!
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I honestly didn’t think Alexa could be used this way