It’s not unusual for children to want to play, draw, read or do anything other than help out with ‘boring’ chores. There are a number of apps to help you motivate your children to do their chores and make it fun for everyone.
Not sure about giving your child chores? That’s fine, too. There are many benefits of chores to help your children develop life skills, but only you know whether it's the right decision for your family. There are many other ways to start teaching your child good habits and you can always introduce chores at any point.
If you’re unsure what kind of chores or paid tasks would be best for your children, check out our age-appropriate chore lists. The list can help you discover what types of tasks children can do around the house at various ages. The best way to encourage your children to take part in chores is to work with them to find chores they enjoy.
Why use an app to track chores?
Almost everything is online nowadays, so why not use an app to track chores? An app can easily be downloaded onto your or your child’s phone, making it easy to keep track of and manage household chores in your everyday life.
Apps also have the benefit of upgrading or changing your chore list as you go – no need to cross things out and end up with a cluttered calendar.
If your child has a smartphone, they can also download the app and mark when they’ve finished a chore themselves. This is especially useful for teens who might get on with chores when they’re home alone. Plus, it teaches them a sense of independence and responsibility.
Apps with game-type interfaces can also be one way to help make chores more fun for your child – and if it’s more fun, they’re more likely to get those tasks done faster. Helping to encourage your child to do their tasks in a fun way, is a great way to bond with your family.
Last but not least, chore apps can be used to manage rewards for chores. For instance, with GoHenry, you can set paid tasks within the app and when the task is marked as complete, your child can be paid.
How to choose a chore tracking app?
If you’re looking for a chore tracking app, you’ll see that there are many to pick from. The most important thing is to find an app that works well for you and your family – don’t just pick one based on cost. Spend time reading reviews, ask other parents what they use, and decide what works for you.
A great thing to consider when looking for a chore app is to see what type of reward features are built-in. There are many different ways to reward children for chores – sometimes you might want to give them a treat like a chocolate bar or give them regular pocket money. However you want to reward your child for a job well done, there's probably an app for that.
3 best chore tracking apps
GoHenry
GoHenry is a prepaid kids' debit card and app (available for kids aged 6-18) where kids can learn how to budget, save, spend and understand the difference between wants vs needs.
GoHenry lets you manage chores as ‘paid tasks’. It’s easy to set up tasks for your children within the app and when they are marked as done, your child will get paid.
You’ll also get all the tools to nurture financially healthy children. With GoHenry, they’ll get their own prepaid debit card, app and access to in-app Money Missions. Kids learn in the app and by using their prepaid debit card, and you get peace of mind with the following features:
- Pre-paid 'top-up' card, so there's no risk of debt or overdraft
- Real-time spending notifications
- The ability to block unsafe spending categories
- Chip and PIN-protected transactions
- Secure PIN recovery in the app
- Bank-level encryption
- Reliable card replacement
- Easily block and unblock cards
S’moresUp
S’moresUp is a calendar app that lets you include household chores. You can set up a separate calendar for everyone in your family and track when tasks are complete. Having a set time to do chores can be useful and teaches good time management skills.
Unlike GoHenry, you can’t link completed chores to pocket money payments and there are no other financial education features.
OurHome
OurHome is a calendar app that lets you combine calendars, shopping lists and other useful info, all in one app. It can be great for helping your children see what needs to doing. Tasks all have a point value, meaning that your children can keep track of how much hard work they’ve done!
Again, unlike GoHenry, you can’t set regular pocket money payments linked to paid tasks within the app and there’s no financial education tools.
Use GoHenry to encourage your kids to do chores today
GoHenry has so many ways to help motivate your kids to do tasks. As a parent, setting up paid tasks is easy and straightforward. As a child, seeing what you have to do is just as simple.
GoHenry kids get access to in-app Money Missions, where children can watch videos and take quizzes to learn about money basics, investing, saving, compound interest, borrowing, giving, and more.
Around 70% of young people think it’s good to earn their own money, and we aim to support parents teaching their kids important financial lessons. Getting financial education at a young age leads to having good money habits as adults.
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