We set this up through the Eero app, which is the mesh Wi-Fi system I currently have. While I’m still working, the kids get started on their homework, helped along by a schedule that pauses Wi-Fi to their personal devices for an hour. It’s more reliable than her remembering to text me when they leave. She has to approve the notification the first time it’s set up, but then it pings me every time, so I know to start heading to her bus stop to collect her. My daughter has to be collected from her bus stop, and I get a ping on my iPhone using Apple’s Find My Recurring Location notification feature that tells me her Apple Watch has left her school (no phone for her yet).
#MINIRADIO GADGET WIN 8 CODE#
He can also let himself in by typing a code or using his fingerprint to unlock the smart door lock (currently a Eufy Touch smart lock). But the Nest Doorbell Wired both announces and shows his arrival to me through a Nest Hub in my home office, so I know he’s home safely. Since I work from home, I’m not always able to get away when my son arrives on the school bus. My kids don’t really need that much prompting now, but for younger ones, it’s a nice alternative to mum or dad shouting up the stairs. For example, it can say “Good morning,” then, five minutes later, remind you to make your bed or brush your teeth. It also starts with a nice jingle, and you can set it to space out different actions during your morning routine. It’s like an alarm, only it tells you what you need to do rather than just making a sound. We found it helpful when we were forced to do school at home. When it’s time to leave, a Family Bell from the Nest Hub Max in our living room - yes, I have a lot of smart speakers it’s part of the job - lets me and my daughter know when it’s time to drive to the bus stop.įamily Bell is a Google Assistant feature that rolled out during the pandemic. Once everyone is downstairs eating breakfast, another Alexa Routine reads out our family calendar for the day, so we can discuss and make sure we have everything we need. (He loves cars, and I’m British, so it seemed like a good choice!) Google’s Family Bell feature helps get my kids to the bus stop on time. But instead of a radio station - which he sleeps right through - an Alexa alarm featuring the trio from The Grand Tour obnoxiously shouting at him seems to get him out of bed the quickest. Next door, in my 14-year-old son’s room, a similar routine from an Echo Show 5 opens his shades, turns lights on, and tells him the weather. The Routine also opens the smart shades in the room and turns on the ceiling fan and its overhead light, which are hooked into Alexa via a Bond Bridge controller. In the interest of furthering her musical education, we’re now going with the randomness of the radio. I used to add a song to the Routine to wake her up, but after a year of Here Comes the Sun, she developed a visceral aversion to The Beatles. It starts by saying, “Good morning, sunshine!”, reporting the weather, then playing a radio station (we’re using BBC Radio 2 at the moment). Next, an Amazon Alexa Routine kicks off from the Echo Show 8 on my 11-year-old daughter’s nightstand. We use Echo devices mainly because we can play Audible books on them, and they make a good home intercom system.
An Echo Show 5 makes a good bedside clock. This is a nice, gentle way to start our bodies along in the laborious process of waking up. I set this up in the Hue App using its built-in Wake-Up automations feature, replicating the wake-with-light feature of a sunrise alarm clock. Starting around 5:30AM, they all turn on low and gradually brighten over 30 minutes. I have one lamp in each of our bedrooms with a Philips Hue light bulb inside. (You could do this with just one, but I like different aspects of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant’s routines and alarms, so I have both going). Having a couple of digital assistants helping us keep track of time cuts down on the potential for raised voices and helps them be a bit more autonomous with their morning ablutions. Getting everyone up and out the door in a one-hour time window is a serious challenge. My children are now 11 and 14, going into middle school and high school, so instead of finding fun ways to encourage my children to stay in bed until it’s time to get up (the green light for go, which you can easily set up on the Echo Glow light, is a classic), I’ve had to devise systems that help me get them out of bed.įor me, the morning routine is the key one. After a year of waking up to Here Comes the Sun, she developed a visceral aversion to The Beatles
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