A former solider has created an app inspired by fitness trackers to help parents spend more time with their children. If this sounds like a contradiction in terms, at a time when we’re all addicted to our smartphones, the 36-year-old creator of WIOH – which stands for World In Our Hands – thinks otherwise.
Stephen Burns, a full-time single father to his 5-year-old son Hunter, came up with the idea while out on his bike one weekend. “I was using an app to record my cycling and thought: I’m only cycling once a week but I’m a parent every day. Why isn’t there a parenting app similar to this that reflects the world that we live in?”
Our lifestyles are so fast and frantic, Burns says, that we often end up cramming too much into our days. Parenting is a 24/7 job, so it’s no surprise important things like one-on-one time with your kids get ignored or taken for granted.
“I was guilty of this myself,” Burns tells HuffPost UK. “I’d often say to Hunter: ‘Mate, just go on your iPad and I’ll be with you in half an hour’. And an hour later, I still hadn’t got to him. I quickly realised I wanted to spend more quality time with my son.”
With WIOH , Burns want to promote this idea of quality time in every family – whether it’s enjoying a quick, five-minute read before bed or giving your kids 100% of your attention for a whole afternoon. It helps you set and track goals and also connect with other events, clubs and, crucially, parents in your local area.
Burns was inspired not just by his experiences as a father, but of being a son. “I had a pretty normal childhood, but there was stuff that I didn’t realise I carried with me up until my late 20s and early 30s,” admits the ex-soldier. “I was military for 15 years and I really excelled in my job. I was very lucky because I achieved everything that I wanted to achieve. Then I realised that when I didn’t have something to focus on, I was a very insecure person.”
Keen to get himself back on track, Burns took a self-development course with the support of a veterans and ex-servicemen charity, and found himself revisiting his own childhood.
“Looking back I can see that my relationship with my father was quite fractured,” he reflects. “I would actually crave his attention and I didn’t get a lot back, but in hindsight that was very reflective of parenting at that time. So with that in mind I wanted to create a parenting app that helps put the focus on positive parenting and family interaction.”
By helping other families improve the way they engage with each other, his hope is that all children will “feel they are loved, wanted and are super heroes”, he says. “If we could replicate this in every household then we could have a more positive society.”
When it came to naming the app, the Newcastle native was inspired by a Taio Cruz track – not that he knew it. “I was driving with my son in his seat at the back and we were singing along to a song, I can’t remember the title, but one of the lines was ‘world in our hands’. I thought: how would that sound as an app name? And then I came up with WIOH. With my Geordie accent it sounds like ‘wye-are’ but I’ve heard people down south call it ‘we-oh’.” Burns laughs.
“I love the fact that everyone has their own interpretation. But I also chose the name because most parents would agree their children are their world. So I wanted a name that would positively reflect that,” he says.
Burns has read the research on social media and its impact on our wellbeing: “If you are looking at negativity all the time that’s going to have an effect on how your day goes. I wanted to create a positive platform, which promotes positive growth and thoughts.” As well as the app, he wants to get into schools to do coaching, mentoring and training workshops around the WIOH philosophy.
“I want to focus on helping the next generation. School is there to help them do well with their grades and academics, but this is about how to give them something to make them feel good about themselves and what untapped potential and resources they have.”
WIOH iOS is currently available on the Apple App Store