July 9, 2012
Remember when weekends were fun? No school, no work, just doing whatever you felt like from dawn til the wee smalls? Yeah, neither do we. Seems weekends are made for 2 things: chores and convincing either yourself or someone else to do said chores. Enter Chore Monster, the digital taskmaster that aims to make Saturdays fun again! They've been getting some nice press and we can see why:
ChoreMonster is a suite of web and mobile apps for parents and kids that aims to make chores fun. Kids can earn points by completing chores that they can turn in for personal rewards like ice cream, an hour of Xbox, or even a canoe trip. Parents can enjoy a simple, hassle-free, digital system that takes the tension out of family chores. Our mission at ChoreMonster is to improve the lives of parents and children with the tools they use every day. The site (and eventually the iPhone/iPod Touch app) is divided into two separate areas — one for parents and one for kids (so that we can appeal visually, functionally and interactively to both audiences). A parent registers with the site, adds their child (or children), creates and assigns point values to each chore, then creates a reward for that child that they earn by saving up points. Kids have their own section where they check on current and upcoming chores, let their parents know if they're done, view potential rewards, and along the way gain various Monsters.Sounds great! Unless you're one of those—ahem!—parents who spoil the good sense out of their children. You know who we're talking about. Really? What kid needs her own mini-mansion? Or a diamond-encrusted...anything? Don't blame the kids; this stuff starts at birth. Baby can't help it!