I jokingly wrote that I thought the Good Inside app would be some sort of AI coach that followed me around based on how I first read about it. I originally didn’t think it would be helpful at all. But I always had the wrong impression. Instead, it’s been a useful way to get Dr. Becky's content, delivered in long videos, notifications, and in bite-sized decks I could actually use when I had five minutes. I've continued to use it for a year now and I wanted to share why I recommend it.
In fact, I think the Good Inside app is the single most useful parenting resource I've found and it was an easy re-subscribe for year 2.
There are also new additions like a Family Plan for co-parenting, and “baby” and “teen” sections for advice focused on those ages. I haven’t spent any time with those new areas, but it’s interesting and likely useful expansion.
Bedtime was the key channel from the initial review, it’s the biggest reason I tried the app. And, I’ll be honest, bedtime is an ongoing thing we're working on—which is in itself a framing I learned from Dr. Becky. But bedtime is also going better. Overall, my tolerance for the hard moments and hard bedtimes has improved and I've used what I've learned from Dr. Becky across all my interactions with my kids.
If you want to look at challenging parenting situations in a different way and if you like occasional reminders to tuck away for difficult moments, the Good Inside app is the best investment I've made in my parenting.
Yes, you can probably stitch the advice together from free interviews and content, but I don't think you should. I think it's worth it to have it centralized and curated and the community is a resource I don’t use enough. I’d even recommend turning on notifications so you remember to read and build new mental models for situations.
Four specific ways the app and Dr. Becky's advice have helped me:
"The treasure store." My wife has rebranded thrifting as “going to the treasure store”—very smartly turning it into a fun family activity. Thrifing is not my favorite thing, but I like to see everyone happy. The trouble is that my four-year-old loves small (and large) cute stuffed animals. When our oldest asks to buy something, my initial response is to just say no because most of it is stuff I don’t want in our house.
My wife navigates it differently, probably because she sees the items as having more value and enjoys thrifting.
For a while I couldn't figure out how to navigate it in my own way, but something Dr. Becky about an entirely different topic said made me realize: "[My daughter] really wants this. It's really important to her. And that makes it important." That reframe changed how I approached those interactions. The Good Inside app keeps parenting advice accessible and reminds me that there might be something useful even when I'm not looking for it. Essentially, I'm storing perspectives and making mental connections for when I need them.
Shopping cart competitions. When we go to stores with tiny kid-sized shopping carts, both my kids will want the carts at the same time - and usually find some reason to want the same one. My default response has always been: “let's just share. Why aren't we sharing?” But that doesn't actually work, and I couldn't understand why until Dr. Becky gave me different language to try. Now I slow down and say something like: "I know you want the cart. I know you want it too. Let's take a moment—maybe somebody plays with it for a minute, or maybe there's a way we both can play with it." I don’t actually know what Dr. Becky would say about this moment, but what I’ve taken away is the value of a pause: space for me to think about what's the right approach and how I can show them that I'm hearing both of them and trying to help.
Bedtime together. My kids like to be together at bedtime, but they work themselves up too much if they’re actually together. So we're constantly navigating how to give them some time together and time with us, while managing the energy so they actually go to sleep. The instinct is to save connection for the end of the day, but Dr. Becky's advice made me think about it differently. She suggested looking for small moments of connection earlier in the day or earlier in the night—something as simple as: "I'm really glad that we're here together." It gets ahead of the asking and creates something to lean on when everyone's exhausted at the end of the day. She talks about her own moments doing this, even though she's incredibly busy, and that gives me both ways of thinking about it and permission to actually do it.
Transitions. Leaving for preschool in the morning. Transitioning from screen time into something else we need to do. These used to be friction points where I'd just push through and get frustrated when it didn't work. Based on Dr. Becky's advice, I now think about how to acknowledge where my kids are before I ask them to move. It's something like: "I know this is really fun. We're gonna go do this other thing that you really want to do. We can do it, and we'll be able to come back to this later if we have time." Naming the transition and the difficulty instead of just pulling them away makes a real difference.
I would guess some of you are saying: “Of course. This is all so simple. How could you not know these things?”
And, I know none of this seems complicated. But the right thing to do is not always obvious in the moment when you're frustrated or rushed. And it doesn't all come naturally to all of us, definitely not for me.
I think that’s why I find it useful to have Good Inside and Dr. Becky's thinking available and generally present, even when she's not describing your exact situation. I find I don’t do exactly what she suggests, but the advice creates new ways to think about moments I’m in. And to me, that’s worth it.
