They say it takes a village to raise a child. The team at Parent Playbook say, take the village with you in your pocket. Parent Playbook is an app that allows parents and caregivers a chance to extend their villages. Users ask questions and obtain knowledge from other parents, caregivers and even professionals, about a variety of topics from bed wetting, to nutrition, to emotional health and more, all without intrusion to privacy or fear of judgement. 

Not just another social media platform where opinions and advertisements run rampant, the “newsfeed” on Parent Playbook allows users to scroll through to find information put forth by counselors, therapists, psychologists, doctors, and of course, other parents, thus building a virtual community. Anyone can use Parent Playbook.

Launched in January by Daybreak resident and CEO Phil Anderson, co-founder Bruce Hymas and a team of very dedicated developers, the app is considered a smart Q&A platform that utilizes the newest advancement of artificial intelligence technology through Chat GPT. The app is free to use and free to download, with no fees.

“We want to make the journey for parents more enjoyable,” Anderson said.

The team at Parent Playbook launched Sophie in early February, the digital parenting assistant that will connect parents and caregivers to the most relevant and tailored information. Users of the app can type a question and Sophie will send back information that is most appropriate. The name Sophie means “wisdom.”

“We are a… platform that connects parents to artificial intelligence, in a digital assistant capacity, as well as with other parents in a community of parents and professionals to solve just about any parenting challenge you may encounter,” Anderson said

Anderson asserts that unlike a search engine that will grab information from all over the world wide web and display the top results based on an algorithmic formula, Sophie has been trained to be empathetic, non-judgmental, kind and inquisitive. In essence, Sophie is a mom. 

“This is not Google,” Anderson said. “It’s themed for your child, there are playbooks inside the technology [for each child].”

No private information is needed to be able to use the app, allowing users to generate profiles for each child and customize the content based on relevant tags. 

A founding team member, Sumita Sharma is a full-stack developer for Parent Playbook. Not only an integral part of the team, she is also a mom. Sharma admitted that sometimes it can be hard to open up to other parents in-person about topics that may be sensitive. 

“Sophie is just another friend to talk with about parenting,” Sharma said.

Originally from Northern India, Sharma resides in the bay area of California. The app has been a way for her and her husband to share ideas and advice from professionals about how they collectively want to approach parenting their teenage son.

“This app is bringing everyone together,” Sharma said. “You can collaborate with others in your circle of trust.”

Mother of five, Stephanie Edwards has been impressed with the app, its functionality and its knowledge base. Edwards said that she doesn’t have a child psychologist within her “village” but with Parent Playbook, she can seek professional advice to help her positively parent each of her five children.

“I don’t need another Instagram,” Edwards said. “I want legit advice.”

Edwards said that the curated knowledge that Parent Playbook has brought has empowered her and given her specific tools to become a better parent. 

Anderson, a native of New Zealand, came to the United States more than 30 years ago. He has been an entrepreneur most of his adult life. He is also a parent and said that he would have used Sophie to help him look beyond when his children were small to realize their future potential and not get caught up in the setbacks of those early moments.

He believes that Parent Playbook can impact not only parents of today, but parents of tomorrow and beyond.

“This is my crowning achievement as an entrepreneur,” Anderson said. “This is bigger than anything I’ve ever done before.”

Parent Playbook is currently only available to U.S. residents. For more information, visit their website www.parentplaybook.com.