Hello world, and welcome to Smiles & Frowns! What started off as a real Mom and Pop and Three Crazy Kids story has lead to a super easy-to-use behavior tracking app – loaded with unique features – that we hope can offer a little peace and positivity to families everywhere.

If you are parent, you’ve been here before. On some fridge, at some time, you’ve put together some kind of positive parenting rewards chart to help your kids master better behavior. We put ours right by the front door where it couldn’t be missed. Made a big old frame. Nailed it to the wall and just kept improving it.

S&Fboard0

Over the years, people seemed to love the little board we called Smiles & Frowns. Other parents wanted to use it. Teachers we knew wanted to try it. And they all thought we should turn it into an app – including my friend, fellow dad, and coding partner, Brad. So here it is!

Is Smiles & Frowns the tool you’ve been looking for? We certainly hope so. And if you do like it, please point other parents you know in our direction. The more people that join in, the better we can make Smiles & Frowns work for you.

Thanks and good luck out there!

Tom & Brad

The Dads at Smiles & Frowns

If the goal of gentle parent is to build confident, happy kids from the inside out, then parents need to consider how they create a consistent, patient, and empathic structure for success from the outside in. This short post from Onmanorama.com offers a nice glimpse into that. That “outside in” role for the parent is really what we are getting out when we talk about our “5C’s of Success.” Clarity, Consistency, Collaboration, Consequence and a good Challenge aren’t really features. They’re the structure the app helps you create as a parent to give your kids a chance to own their behaviors just a little bit more. Read on and see what you think!

Is ‘gentle parenting’ good for your child’s mental health? How to make it work
Gentle parenting focuses on raising happy, confident, and independent children through respect, empathy, and healthy boundaries.
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www.onmanorama.com

Okay, more for our little Gentle Parenting week: This one from positiveparenting.au goes a little deeper into how the roles of discipline and consequence differ between Gentle Parenting and Positive Parenting. And an insight from the Smiles & Frowns perspective… it’s just good to remember that “consequence” does not equal “punishment”. The app helps kids see the results of their behavior in simple, positive ways that they can start to really own. We hope it gives you a really natural bridge between the empathic approach of the GP and the behavior/response approach that’s built into PP.

Gentle Parenting vs. Positive Parenting — POSITIVE PARENTING
Parenting philosophies shape how we raise our children. One of these, gentle parenting, has recently been gaining attention. Initiated by Sarah Ockwell-Smith, this philosophy revolves around four fundamental elements: empathy for your child’s feelings, respect for your child as an individual, unders
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www.positiveparenting.au

We’re gonna group the next few posts up around “gentle parenting,” which is sometimes hard to wrap your head around. At its core, as this nice overview from BrownHealth.org will tell you, it’s about building stronger bonds, self-awareness, and improved family dynamics. That’s very in tune with the goals of our Smiles & Frowns app, which we view as a communications tool as much as a behavior tracker. I’ll go in depth on some post about that soon, but for now… check out the gentle approach!

Gentle Parenting: What It Is, How It Can Help, and Possible Drawbacks | Brown University Health
Curious about gentle parenting? Learn more about this approach to parent-child relationship building.
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www.brownhealth.org

Positive and negative reinforcement can get really confusing, really fast. Especially when you realize that positive does isn’t always good, and negative doesn’t usually mean bad. It’s all about what you ADD or TAKE AWAY to reinforce target behaviors. Why not jump over this one from the Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy for a little guidance on this tricky one?

4 Types of Positive Reinforcement: Parenting Strategies to Improve Behaviors – Expert CBT, DBT, and Testing for Children, Adolescents, and Families | In-person and teletherapy
Reinforcement is one of the most powerful tools that parents can use to help improve their child’s behavior. Positive reinforcement is particularly helpful and can help you and your child establish routines, build healthy habits and life skills, and strengthen your bond. With time, patience, and practice, positive reinforcement can help shape desirable behaviors, especially, when used in conjunction with other parenting strategies.
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centerforcbt.org

This is a really great article that does more than just give you five rituals (my word!) to build a strong foundation of skills that will set your kids in life. This one gets deeper into the psychology of why it all works in a way that just makes sense. Don’t thank us, thank the UC Davis team!

The Power of Positive Parenting | Patient and Family Education | UC Davis Children Hospital
The Power of Positive Parenting with PRIDE Skills: Praise, Reflection, Imitation, Description and Enjoyment.
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health.ucdavis.edu

Why are the early years of a child’s life so important? As children grow into early childhood, their worlds open up and their interactions with those around them completely shape their ways of thinking. So dig into this one from the CDC to learn a little bit more about setting your kids up for success early.

Positive Parenting Tips: Preschoolers (3–5 years old)
Positive parenting tips and resources for preschoolers (3–5 years old)
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www.cdc.gov

2026 week continues! We’re just sharing a few more worthy reads, like this one from Protect Families, Protect Choices. One of my favorite lines in this post – and you’ll have to read it to find it! – is “One of the primary benefits of positive parenting is its profound impact on a child’s self-esteem and internal motivation.” There’s lots more great stuff here, but that’s the heart of it. And no matter what works best for you, we hope Smiles & Frowns helps you build stronger communication with your kids, which leads to that kind of strong internal growth.

The Complete Parenting Guide 2026 – Protect Families – Protect Choices
Welcome, parents and caregivers, to the most comprehensive resource for navigating the exciting, challenging, and profoundly rewarding journey of raising
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www.protectfamiliesprotectchoices.org

As we wrap up the first quarter of the year, we’re still finding good articles that are looking forward into 2026. This one from The Everymom REALLY shows how the pendulum is starting to swing back towards more intentional, more “analog” approaches to parenting. And even though Smiles & Frowns is an app, we’ve always intended it to be a tool that helps promote real-life communication and collaboration with your kids on the road to better behavior. So read on!

2026 Parenting Trends We’re Excited to Embrace This Year
more intention, less perfection ✨
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theeverymom.com

A little local perspective from Your News. It’s just another reminder that the game has changed in the age of devices and digital distractions. (And yes, we know we’re saying this as a behavior app on a device!) It’s a super quick read with a few nice little nuggets you might find helpful.

Building Strong Parent-Child Relationships in a Digital Age – [your]NEWS
Building Strong Parent-Child Relationships in a Digital Age
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yournews.com