Chore Pad

I recently discovered a new app for my iPhone/iPad that I thought some of you might like to hear about (in the interest of disclosure, I purchased both apps myself…this is not a sponsored post – but that would be nice!).

Chore pad is a digital version of the dry erase board/magnetic/posterboard chore charts.  We’ve tried a number of different versions in our house – magnetic boards with cute wooden, papers on the fridge, straight allowance etc.  This is the first chart that got the boys excited.

I first downloaded it for my iPhone, thinking it would be perfect to have with me at all times.  I spent some time with it and realized that I would much rather have it for my iPad (oops).  Mostly due to the size – the landscape mode allows me to see the whole week; portrait the entire list of chores.

So, a few more dollars later, I got it all set up (again) on the iPad.  The boys were pretty fired up about picking out the rewards, number of stars and making the list of chores.  The first day we had it up and running they were running around like star fiends, trying to earn as many as possible. Of course, as expected, the excitement has waned, but it’s still a nice thing to say “hey, who wants a star for x?” and see them run!

It has a few little things that I would change – but according to their customer service (email response within 15 minutes!) they are working on the ability to mark an item multiple times in a day (for example, letting the dog in is worth a star, but my dog goes out way more than once a day!).

All in all, it’s been an effective way to encourage the boys to do things that we want them to – feeding the dog, putting dishes in the sink, making their beds, and so on and so forth.

Tagged as: chores, ipad apps, teaching responsibility, the boys, there's an app for that