Ask HN: Incentive-based task manager for parents & children

[bartolo]

What about a mobile app that facilitates incentive-based task completion between parents and children? A parent creates a "prize" that has a cost of X "points".The parent then creates multiple tasks (e.g. household chores) that award points upon completion. In order to complete a task the children must submit evidence of completion (e.g. pictures/videos of them washing the car, doing their homework, taking out the trash). Once the parent has approved the task, points are awarded to the children. The child can then use these points to redeem for a "prize" (e.g. spankin' new Xbox 720).

[callmeed]

Father of 4 here (1 is grown, the 3 small ones are age 4, 6, & 8). I like the idea and it has crossed my mind before. A few thoughts:

- My 8 y/o just got an iPod touch. The other just play on the family iPad. I would definitely want an app that had some sort of shared/multi-user account system.

- For smaller kids, you need an easy UI. A lot of kid games get this horribly wrong. Make sure to test it with your age group.

- It sounds old school, but adding some printing capabilities is not a bad idea IMO. Printing a chart for the fridge is still popular.

- without delving into a debate on parenting philosophies, there are chores my kids do—not for points—because they are required. They have to empty the dishwasher and keep their room somewhat clean. They don't get a gold star for doing it—rather, they lose privileges if they don't do it(or complain longer than the chore would've taken). All that to say, I'd like to be able to assign/track weekly chores for each kid without having to assign a prize per say.

- We also keep a keen eye out for random acts by the kids. We call them "servant points" or "polite points" and they are very ad-hoc. It's usually things like being very nice/polite to a stranger or clerk, being exceptionally caring to a sibling, or making a gift or piece of art for a friend or grandparent. It would be cool to keep track of these without the kids thinking there is a reward at "X points"

Hope that helps

[caw → callmeed]

I'm in my early 20's, so my perception of my childhood chores:

* We had a paper & pencil chart with the shared chores. The chart was because my sister and I alternated dishwasher unloads, and that didn't happen every day. At some point we switched to the calendar already on the fridge, you just write your name down (different colored pens)

* Generally accepted chores (room clean, bed made, vacuum or dust on the weekends) that didn't alternate weren't written down.

I agree that chores are required. In some sense, you could create a point system if the kids were saving up or working towards something, in the sense that your parents might "pay you" for extra stuff (washing the car, mowing the lawn, painting the spare room). At the end of that there might be a reward as a sort of appreciation, but for me it wasn't expected.

For your app, something like this last piece might be a bit more dynamic. Parents can load up tasks that need to be done and the kids could work towards them at their own pace. If they run out of tasks they run out of them for the time being.

Another thing parents might really like - a quality indicator (5 stars?) or accept/reject. If you do a crappy job you've got to redo it, and any sort of goodwill you might have just accumulated is null and void.

[mdoyle]

Have you seen Choremonster? https://www.choremonster.com/.

We've used Choremonster and it seems like one of the most engaging.

Your suggestion of taking photos sounds innovative, but in most cases you'll be there to witness the chores happening so the photos wont be adding anything other than maybe a bit of fun for the children. And the photos themselves may become repetitive, as the chores generally are. Perhaps there's another app idea where photos are used to communicate/manage something between parent and children.

We've used choremonster and its not bad at all. It's quite a challenge to get the balance right in terms of volume of tasks and granularity, so there's some upfront investment - and patience - to get things right. The children do get incentive from it though, but their interest quickly wanes, particularly when you've had a busy couple of days and haven't reviewed their completed tasks )

[bartolo → mdoyle]

Thanks for your feedback! About "get the balance right in terms of volume of tasks and granularity" I think that our approach should be to suggest that points are equivalent to money.

[glimcat]

I know a guy who's working on this. In addition to the chores, they're working on some stuff for motivating kids to study.

Allowance as a service + motivational gamification.

http://empower.me/how-it-works/

[mcartyem]

Does the end goal extend beyond getting household chores done and into educating children to intrinsically want to do chores?

You improve what you measure. Is points what you want to measure?

[bartolo → mcartyem]

I don’t understand your question clearly, but the idea is to incentivize children to “earn” points after completing tasks, so you are giving value to their “work” with points that they can exchange for rewards. If I would give a “learning objective” could be to teach children to “work” for the things that they want and don’t take everything for granted.

[jvvlimme → bartolo]

I think what is meant if there will be something to reward the kids when they do something by themselves and not only by doing the requested chores.

Example: Kid cleans up his room without it being asked. Will there be an ability to award points even without a task being created.

[bartolo → jvvlimme]

Yes. They can proposed new tasks even if it is already done and the parents sould accepted it and set the amount of points.

[tamersalama]

Why wouldn't the child talk to their parents instead of taking photos/videos. What's wrong with "Dad, I finished my homework", "Mom, I took out the trash".

[bartolo → tamersalama]

The problem by keeping it verbal is tracking what has already been done for an specific goal. Many parents may forget any “verbal agreement” with their kids.

[crazirican]

Do you want to limit yourself to just a family environment?

[bartolo → crazirican]

Right now, yes.

[elbuo8]

I could see myself using this.