KidCoachApp is a friendly educational app that offers 5-minute conversation starters to pivotally develop your child’s “talking, thinking and feeling skills,” as Kavin Wadhar, the founder, father of two and former UK division director in education publishing, summarised. Leaving a leading position in the corporate world, Kavin is now dedicating his time to growing this quick and fun instructional service to introduce underrepresented “human skills” to a new generation. “The interpersonal aspect of the professional world is becoming increasingly important,” he explained. “As well as getting good grades, it is important to be able to demonstrate sharp cognitive, emotional and social aptitude to differentiate yourself to the employer. Many children are achieving top marks and so the interview stage becomes especially important - at school, university and for future jobs. You need to be able to demonstrate a strong personality as well as academic prowess.”
As a result, his KidCoachApp offers a lot of challenging questions to encourage critical, lateral and developmental thinking from an early age, such as ‘how would you describe a computer to Julius Caesar; how many I-pads are there in the UK; what are you able to do better today that you were struggling with a year ago?” These and many more prompts for parents of 7-11 year olds can be found on the official website: www.kidcoach.app . “What really distinguishes us in the EdTech world is the fact that this app is a catalyst for meaningful interaction,” Kavin clarified. “You can pick up the cards to start an intimate back and forth and then put them away – and it need only take 5 minutes. You can work with your children on a range of skills from communication and leadership, problem-solving and critical appraisal, and confidence and resilience.”
Here, the founder also stressed the role of cultivating a sensitive awareness in terms of future prospects: “The Institute of the Future predicts that 85% of jobs in 2030 have not yet been invented. Indeed, jobs such as drone manufacturing, being a YouTuber and quantum mechanics could never have been imagined 20 years ago today. Society is drastically changing and it is important to keep up: you must have an evolving transferable approach.” Developing with the technological progress of society then, Kavin helps to foster a well-rounded modern model of human smarts. One in which individual instinct is interlocked with learned skills. Indeed, the KidCoachApp naturally combines both creative and analytical thinking which are ultimately interconnected, also presenting philosophical queries in an accessible way. “There are great questions around the Harry Potter books which engages kids well too: what house do you think the sorting hat would allocate you into based on your strengths: Gryffindor, Slytherin…? Do you think Professor Snape is ethically good or bad? This prompts children to think on both sides of an argument before arriving at a series balanced conclusion.”
Finally, use of the app is itself an emotionally intelligent action where parents can directly build supportive relationships with their children which will carry them through life. Indeed, a fundamental part of modern psychology is understanding the relationship an individual has experienced with their parents by way of explaining how well they can function within a constructive society. Inner confidence is often determined by the healthy involvement a parent has had with their child. “Actually, the eureka moment for the app came when I was reading through one of the famous Aesop’s Fables with my daughter,” Kavin told us. “It was the story of the wind and the sun: the story describes a bet between the two where the winner must get the man to take off the coat! The wind tries to do this forcefully while the sun gently warms the man until he takes the garment off himself – the moral is that motivation must come from within.” Kavin had a meaningful coaching moment with his daughter discussing this moral and he realised it arose since he had the right stimulus to hand. So he got working on creating lots more stimulus questions for parents to use with their own children, in just 5 minutes day.[KE1] “The app makes it easier to build an integral bond with your children in an otherwise busy life. Those great parenting moments are so important: children will remember good guidance for years to come.” And so, an assured sense of self is central to success.
Tell us more about the Kid Coach App and how it works?
The app is in development but when you register interest on the site, you will immediately be sent new questions and there are printable flash cards if you want a physical copy. Another significant point to remember is that only 15% of a child’s waking hours is spent at school. With school hours and holidays considered, children spend a lot of time at home so parents have massive potential to shape their child’s future. The cards facilitate this.
What has been the biggest challenge in developing this app?
The marketing. The goal is to reach as many parents as possible. Thus far we have had several hundreds sign up without a penny spent on advertising so this is looking promising!
What advice might you give to others who want to start an enterprise?
Try to establish it as a side hustle in your spare time to first validate the idea. You have to have enough informed confidence to leave a current job. The project needs to be worth quitting for. Ask yourself what you would do if you needed to pitch to investors. What would you need to demonstrate, from the market size to the customer in mind to setting yourself a conversion goal e.g. how many people are showing interest as a percentage over a few months? How will that grow over time?
W: https://www.kidcoach.app/
“The Institute of the Future predicts that 85% of jobs in 2030 have not yet been invented. Indeed, jobs such as drone manufacturing, being a YouTuber and quantum mechanics could never have been imagined 20 years ago today"
