Roundup: Apps That Turn Doing Chores Into A Game (For iPhone, iPad, Android and Web)

Pulling a child away from an X-Box to clean her room or take out the trash can be, well...a chore. But what if the key to getting kids to handle their own household responsibilities came neatly packaged in electronic game form?

Enter a slew of apps for mobile phones, iPads and the web that make charts and stickers seem oh so passé.

While each program has different perks -- some morph your children into chore-battling avatars! -- they all make the daily grind of getting tasks done a lot smoother and, dare we say it, fun.

Vote on the high-tech options we’ve found below and let us know about any apps we’ve missed in the comments!

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iReward Chart

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Available on: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android Cost: LITE version -- supports one child and four tasks -- available for free. Unlimited is $3.99 iReward Chart, winner of the "Best Parenting App" award at MacWorld 2011, is an incentives based to-do list that will have your children scrambling to be on their best behavior. Create a list of tasks for your children by choosing from categories that include chores (clearing the table), responsibilities (brushing teeth) and behavior (not talking back) -- Or, create your own assignment i.e. Try to eat something that isn't a chicken nugget! Kids get gold stars (which gives them points) if they complete a chore and red stars (which subtracts points) if they forget to clear the table. You decide how many points it takes to get a prize (for example, 25 stars could be worth a night out bowling , 500 stars -- a trip to a theme park). It's up to your children when they want to cash in.

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Available on: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android
Cost: LITE version -- supports one child and four tasks -- available for free. Unlimited is $3.99

iReward Chart, winner of the "Best Parenting App" award at MacWorld 2011, is an incentives based to-do list that will have your children scrambling to be on their best behavior. Create a list of tasks for your children by choosing from categories that include chores (clearing the table), responsibilities (brushing teeth) and behavior (not talking back) -- Or, create your own assignment i.e. Try to eat something that isn't a chicken nugget!

Kids get gold stars (which gives them points) if they complete a chore and red stars (which subtracts points) if they forget to clear the table. You decide how many points it takes to get a prize (for example, 25 stars could be worth a night out bowling , 500 stars -- a trip to a theme park). It's up to your children when they want to cash in.

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Comments

[greeneyesco]

02:28 PM on 09/27/2011

Children learn so much from doing chores. I outline a lot of what they learn in more detail in my eBook, The Clean Routine. As parents we need to do chores with our children in the beginning to model the correct approach.
Each member of the family has responsibilities. Children need to learn how to take care of themselves, pick up after themselves and contribute to their home.
The apps are cool but I think they would create more hassle. I use printed lists for our kids. They choose 2 tasks a day from the zone of the week. They have some choice in what they do as well as responsibility. There are no rewards. Life isn't about rewards for every little thing you do.

[irewardchart]

03:58 PM on 09/28/2011

Lori,
thanks for an insightful comment. Yeah, its not about rewards, and certainly its not about pocket money or other monetary rewards (as we strongly believe, money shouldn't be an incentive for good behavior). In our userbase, we constantly listen to the parents, and stress upon using intangible rewards (we even added a bunch of them in the app to give ideas) such as read an extra bedtime story, or a trip to the zoo!
As with every tool, its as effective as the user of the tool, and we are no different. Thanks again for a wonderful comment.

[j37282]

10:05 PM on 09/25/2011

Regarding the self-sufficient issue, I think parents are being total hypocrites here!

How can you teach a kid to be self-sufficient if the parent is clearly just exploiting the kids to do things they cannot be bothered doing themselves?

[pooka2077]

10:27 PM on 09/25/2011

Give a man a fish, he eats for a day; teach a man to fish, and he can feed himself.

We learn by doing. By the way, DO you have children??

[j37282]

10:45 PM on 09/25/2011

I mean once you have mastered the concept of washing dishes, there is nothing else to learn by doing it repeatedly.

So that is where the parents are exploiting.


And no, I do not.

I do however enjoy playing with kids and am appalled by the hypocrisy involved in raising them and how parents/teachers think they should be raised.

[madeye1]

11:36 PM on 09/25/2011

Did you have to do all the housework and/or yardwork when you were a kid or something? You have kind of a skewed view of the family learning how to live together, and kids learning how to deal with certain issues of doing something they really don't want to do. I don't believe in working a kid to death, and I do believe in letting them play and grow up slowly. But doing some chores is not going to hurt anybody and helps everybody.

[SusanTW]

09:20 AM on 09/26/2011

J 37282 --so who should do the dishes if not the people who live in the family? Why should parents wait on children? This creates entitlement.

Doing dishes repeatedly is kind of like a meditation. Even Thich Nhat Han recommends doing dishes.

In my book on chores, "Raising Able: How chores empower families," I give about a dozen reasons why chores are good for children. Research backs it up. Chores nurture self confidence, teamwork, self-esteem while teaching kids the priceless gift of self-discipline.

Family chores connect a kid to his/her family -- which is the BEST substance abuse prevention available.

[chrisbergman]

09:37 PM on 09/25/2011

Laura! Awesome roundup on chore apps! I'd love to show you what we're working on over at Choremonster.org sometime. Chores CAN be fun and I think a lot of these apps are doing a great job of proving that!

[j37282]

09:22 PM on 09/25/2011

Kids should not have to do ANY chores EVER.

They had 0% input in choosing to be born, so that is how much they should be expected to contribute to the house.


Parents should do everything for their kids within their means, as long as the child does well in school and plays at least 1 sport per year.

For example, if a parent has $5,000 left of disposable income after fulfilling all their obligations at the end of the year, then if a child asks for $5,000 worth of gifts for Christmas, the kid should get everything.

A child should never not get something if he/she has behaved and the parents have the resources to do it just to prove they are the parent.

[madeye1]

09:31 PM on 09/25/2011

Really? Is that how you are going to treat your future kids? If so, you will create a monster no one, especially yourself, can control.

[j37282]

10:04 PM on 09/25/2011

@madeye1: Yes, of course that is how I will treat my kids. How will that create a monster?


@pooka2077: An 11-year old does not need to be responsible for things that have nothing to do with them.

It is the parents' job to take care of the house, not the child's.

Children have lots of other things to be proud of like school projects and winning sports' games against tough opponents using creative strategies.


You can be a responsible adult who can thinks for themselves, earns their own way, and is not lazy, without doing chores.

[pooka2077]

09:52 PM on 09/25/2011

j37282, please tell me you do not, nor will you ever have, children. Chores is how children learn responsibility, respect for the people and things in their lives, and respect for themselves. There is no satisfaction greater than looking back on a job well done; that includes the job of parenting. Parenting is THE most important job in the world. I brought up three children to be responsible adults who can think for themselves, earn their own way in the world, and are passing on their values to my grandchildren. Not a lazy one in the bunch, and not a single one that feels entitled to anything just for being born.

[j37282]

08:59 PM on 09/25/2011

"In our house, "I'm the parent and you'll do as your told." works perfectly fine, AND is well respected. My kids do their chores when they're told to out of obedience, not to earn a reward."


The only problem is that there's no sort of entrance test to being classified as a parent.

Your value translates to being a bad cop essentially.

[pooka2077]

09:53 PM on 09/25/2011

If there were an entrance test for being a parent, I'm afraid you would fail miserably.

[j37282]

09:59 PM on 09/25/2011

Way to actually address what I said.

The child never picked you as a parent, so there is no reason he should have to do what you say JUST BECAUSE you are the parent.

That would be like condoning a slave owner in the 1800's telling a slave: "You are the slave. Now do what you are told." and thinking that we should do that now.

[j37282]

08:39 PM on 09/25/2011

"The problem is kids have it to easy today. I was expected at an early age to keep my room clean and I had chickens to feed and other chores around the farm . for that I got an allowance, I remember I was told I could collect the eggs after the hens were fed. And I liked collecting eggs for some reason so, I always made sure the chickens had plenty to eat, as I got older My father would give me more chores and eventually actually paid me as a farm hand he said I was to old to get an allowance and that was at age 10."


So essentially your parents exploited you for free labor?

[pooka2077]

09:56 PM on 09/25/2011

No, his parents expected him to help the family by doing his part. "...and eventually actually paid me as a farm hand he said I was to old to get an allowance and that was at age 10."

Did you miss that part?

Climb down off your high horse, j37282, you might fall and hurt yourself.

[j37282]

08:38 PM on 09/25/2011

"I like this method better..."­Son, (or daughter) if you don't want me to sell/give away /suspend use of that X-box, cell phone, etc....go do your chores." It actually works. It worked for my sister and I growing up. If we didn't do what was asked/expe­cted of us, we lost priveledge­s. It was that simple and it was made clear right up front whenever we were given the things we had."


So basically you threaten them to get your way and are encouraging them to hide stuff from you?

You're awesome!

[j37282]

08:37 PM on 09/25/2011

"You are the parent and adult they are the child, it's that simple."

That doesn't really work.

If it did, you could say "I am white and you are black, so go do your chores. It's that simple."

[riverlee34]

10:21 PM on 09/25/2011

Well I suppose if my child were black...yes, it would.

[Ferrariqx]

07:55 PM on 09/25/2011

Hehe! My parents got my sister, brother, and myself to do chores without ANY problems! They told us what had to be done, and we did it. It was quite that simple! Especially, when we considered the resulting circumstances. My favorite example:

It was my job to take out the kitchen garbage every night. One night, I forgot and my father warned me that was the last time I was allowed to "forget." Another night, I forgot again. My father awakened me at about 3:00 AM, made me get up, take a shower, brush my teeth, comb my hair and get fully dressed including shirt, tie, cuff links, AND polish and shine my shoes. Then go downstairs, take out the garbage. I never "forgot" to take out the garbage again. Amazing, that my parents managed to teach us responsibility without having an app for that!

NEXT!

[gdzilla2]

08:13 PM on 09/25/2011

When our son was about 10, we took in a stray dog. He promised to feed it blah blah. You know the routine! And actually, he took very good care of the dog, feeding him every morning, giving him fresh water a couple of times a day etc. One day it was very hot and humid. I had asked him if he had given Porky fresh water ( I knew he hadn't). He assured me that he had. Well, I had already given him fresh water and said no more about it. At supper, everyone at the table had a glass of iced tea except my son. His glass contained the icky water I had poured out of the dog bowl! I added a crumbled leaf and a few blades of grass just for effect. He looked at it then at me. I said Hey...that dog is YOUR dog and a member of the family. I figured that you thought that nasty warm water was good enough for him so, I figured you thought it was good enough for you as well. He left the table, got the dog even more fresh water and never ever neglected that dog again. I didnt have a chore app so just had to wing it!!!!

[GOODDOC1]

08:24 PM on 09/25/2011

I absolutively LOVE the way you handled that! I bet the dog appreciated it, too!

[Jan Rice]

10:06 PM on 09/25/2011

Awesome...sometimes common sense and logic work realllllly well....in spite of the fact that there is none all around us...

[irewardchart]

06:12 PM on 09/28/2011

Times change, tools change, the conversations and communications change ....
Yday, I came back from a long flight, where my 3yr old daughter carried an iPad where she did some letter practice and so on. When we were kids, there was no app for that, we just carried pen and papers, or even slate and chalks.
This is just a small tool, neither it replaces parenting, nor changes the relationship anyways...
I am appreciative of your parents as much as I am appreciative of my parents to have instilled the sense of responsibility by making us do the chores.
Thank you for your comment.

[Angela Criswell]

07:55 PM on 09/25/2011

In our house, "I'm the parent and you'll do as your told." works perfectly fine, AND is well respected. My kids do their chores when they're told to out of obedience, not to earn a reward.

[ima conservative]

07:32 PM on 09/25/2011

that was one fancy kitchen faucet in that government housing with youngster washing dishes

[jep121212]

09:08 PM on 09/25/2011

IMA CONSERVATIVE: You are also a fool!

[icsunonove]

06:11 PM on 09/25/2011

They're kidding right? Just tell the kids it's time to do OUR chores or get rid of all electronics. Parents do some chores WITH them so they can LEARN from YOU!

Parents are not doing your kid any favors by making everything a game or getting a reward for everything they do. Take it from a Nanny who knows how to motivate kids in a positive way not a "game" way.

[WilmaJune]

06:08 PM on 09/25/2011

My children did not chores. When they wanted an item, they earned the money. I would tell them what they could do and how much they could earn, usually a choice of three things. They learned how to negotiate and compromise along with earning money. It was really a business deal although they did not realize it at the time.

[gdzilla2]

05:53 PM on 09/25/2011

Dumb Dumb Dumb! Kids spend enough times with the cyber world, why would a good parent even consider this? Children need to learn that life is NOT all a video game and the reality is that you actually WORK for what you want. Nintendo etc was just getting going when our kids were young and they knew they only had video and tv time if and only if their homework and chores were done and done properly. There was no bargaining period. They were taught that all members of a family contribute equally and to their ability according to age. If they had to be told or reminded to do something that was their normal daily chore then they lost tv, video game time for that day. Parents who have to resort to bribing their kids with rewards will usually regret it later. Did I mention this is dumb???

[irewardchart]

06:22 PM on 09/28/2011

Thanks for your comment. There is a fine line between bribe and a reward, and the use or abuse entirely depends on the user. We don't make this to replace parenting, or make it as a bribing tool. (Hmmm... I got to think about the product iBribe). We made a simple tool to reinforce the positive outcome of efforts, use it as a goal setting. A lot of parents do let us know how it has impacted their kids. Pls take sometime to read the comments on the AppStore. But again, this is not to replace any bit of parenting as you do. Its just a tool, or rather a means, and not the end.

[RaceFan88]

05:47 PM on 09/25/2011

I like this method better..."Son, (or daughter) if you don't want me to sell/give away /suspend use of that X-box, cell phone, etc....go do your chores." It actually works. It worked for my sister and I growing up. If we didn't do what was asked/expected of us, we lost priveledges. It was that simple and it was made clear right up front whenever we were given the things we had.

[GOODDOC1]

08:27 PM on 09/25/2011

My parents would have actually done it, no warning. And we would never have forgotten again!