Chore Pad App

As you know we are huge fans of the iPad in this house in fact it is the most coveted piece of equipment in terms of use generally know as “iPad time”. The kids love the games that are on the iPad and I love that I can choose what they play etc. On the most part the “games” are educational with the odd “just plain fun” game thrown in.

A few months ago I came across a wonderful app called Chore Pad which can be found on iTunes (that is the link to the US store so you may have to search your own iTunes store if elsewhere) or pop across and visit their Facebook page here (by the way if you decided to “like” the FB page please leave a quick note their saying I sent you and then I go into a draw for some iTunes cards ). The great news if you have not already got his app and you want to purchase it, is that they are reducing the price of the app on the 5th and 6th August “Since we reached 1000 likes we will decrease Chore Pad HD & Chore Pad for the iPhone on the 5th AND 6th to $1.99!!”  There is a Lite version too which allows you to see it and try before you buy.

Anyway let me get on and tell you why I like this app so much. We have tried all sorts of star charts etc. but not with any great success. Since using the Chore Pad I found that the kids are more aware of their “chores” (I am not all that keen on that actual name though) and often they will refer to earning their stars or they will mention what reward they are working towards. Does it mean that sometimes they do something just to get more stars? Maybe, but I am not complaining on that front if Laith decides to read a book to his sister and happens to make sure I know he did it without being asked because just maybe I will tick the “Do Something Nice ..” chore which gets his 4 stars! Seriously, it is all about creating habits folks .

The Initial Set Up. 

It take a little time so you need to find a nice quiet place (ha-ha you say with little munchkins running around the house). You set up each child as a different user and upload their picture.

You then go into the Chore Chest and set up all the chores you want to use. I involved the kids with this stage just so they had some ownership in the process. You also assign a star value, how often, and what days it is applicable for. This is very useful for particular things that are related to the school week, or weekends etc.

Then you assign the chores to the applicable person.

Don’t worry because once you have done this ground work you can then always go into a user and customize their chore with a different icon, days, value. 

The last set up stage is to allocate your “payouts”. These are the things you child can redeem their points for.

In our case we have tried not to make it too monetary based and included some trips out etc. On the CP FB page there is a discussion on different ideas to use that are low or no cost and there are some good suggestions that I will implement here soon.

 

Using the CP

Once set up it is a breeze to use. Every day in the evening I update the CP and just press the box if they have completed that chore. I have it on my iPad but you can also have it on the iPhone too.

For our chores the general rule is that you get a star if I don’t have to ask or remind you to do the chore. So please be assured that my kids do brush their teeth every morning but if I had to remind them (several times) then no star for that day.

A great feature is that you can also adjust that chore using the Star Modifier Tray. For example we have one for Tantrums (a fairly big issue in our house with a 3 year old at the moment) so for a completely tantrum free day the child gets a whopping 10 stars! I deduct stars for the major tantrums of the day thus allowing you to be fair with your points.

As their ticks accumulate they earn different level trophies.

I allow the kids to do a Payout at any time if they have the points. So that is why you will see a low star value because once it is paid out then it is deducted from their total.  In Laith’s case he is paying out once he reaches 240 as he is keen to get the book set I pre-purchased for him.

 

Chore Pad is a great app for us. It has really helped me to keep the kids on track and I much prefer it to a “pocket money” system. Being fully customizable makes it a real winner here.

So my friends if you have children and you are looking for a chore chart tracking system then give this one a try. I would love to know what you think. And no I am not affiliated with CP, lol, just a happy customer.

Thanks for stopping by …