Why a Virtual Voice Assistant is one of the best things you can have with a Toddler at Home?

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I have had Amazon Alexa at home quite before my daughter was born and haven’t given much thought to it. I used it at times to prepare grocery lists or maybe control the smart light just for fun. It was mainly my source for instant music. In this post, I am gonna discuss about the personal experience with how a virtual voice assistant has helped in my parenting journey.

Note: I use Alexa in my post here because that is what I am most accustomed with. Am sure these apply for any other virtual assistants like Google Home or Siri.

When my daughter was born, I continued my musical relationship with Alexa, only now it was more about “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” and “Old Mc Donald had a Farm”. She had been listening to us give commands and Alexa’s response since she was an infant.

My child’s Response to Alexa over the months

Initially I did not make much of it.

I did notice the good, calming effect of music on her. With time she also began enjoying the music with little dance steps of her own.

With time, she was repeating words like “Johnny Johnny” or “Baa Baa Back (my baby’s lingo) Sheep”.

And now, she is on the stage where she goes “Axaaa, playyy Baa Baa Back Sheep.” Infact her instructions to Alexa seem to be on the increasing trend as she seems to think Axa has the solutions to everything. 🙂

Why I love Virtual Voice Assistants as a Parent to a Toddler

  • It is super easy to play nursery rhymes on Alexa than on any other medium. Just a voice command, no buttons, no typing.

  • It has been handy in giving me several nights of peace as I can play kiddo’s favourite lullaby like “Twinkle Twinkle” or “Chanda Mama” on repeat while I drift off to sleep with her.

  • It helps me avoid screen time. Playing songs from Cocomelon on Alexa proves as good a distraction as playing cocomelon on TV. Well… until it doesn’t. Still I manage to keep screen time to minimum by using music on Alexa. This is one benefit I am totally in love with.

  • Not just for kid friendly music, but there are several other features which can be entertaining for your infant/toddler. For e.g. I personally love the animal sounds feature.

  • Kids take interest in interacting on their own with Alexa. They try to give instructions to Alexa through observation and mimicking. Which reminds me gotta change Alexa’s wake word to “Axa”…

No substitute for Human Interaction

While virtual assistants are great for kids be it in the nuclear or joint setup, interacting with them is no substitute for Human Interaction.

You need to spend time talking and interacting with your child. Alexa is no replacement for a mom’s lullaby or a grandmother’s story. While Alexa is definitely a great addition in a kid’s life especially for developing vocabulary and language skills but interacting with family is the actual lesson in understanding emotions and developing conversation skills.

Summing Up

Am sure that as my kid grows up, I will discover more ways in which a virtual voice assistant is helpful. For the time being we are quite happy enjoying the music and lullabies. I am also eager to discover what all new pieces of conversation my kid discovers to have with “Axa”.

Don’t forget to let me know in the comments in what other ways does a virtual voice assistant like Alexa or Google Home helps you with parenting.

Also check out my first interaction with chatGPT here.