Chores for screen time: how to set it up so it works.

Why do chores-for-screen-time schemes fall apart?

When a scheme fades, common reasons include these five, and none of them is the child.

• The chore was vague. “Tidy your room” means something different to each person in the house.
• Nobody was clearly in charge of saying “done”. So it was done when the child said so, or never.
• The record lived in someone’s head. By Thursday nobody agrees how many minutes are owed.
• The rules changed mid-week. A chore that paid 15 minutes on Monday paid 10 on Wednesday because a parent was tired.
• Earned time got taken away for something unrelated. Once that happens, the child stops believing the deal.

Everything below is designed around those five.

Which chores suit which age?

Every child is different, and a chore a child already does happily doesn’t need paying for. These are starting points, not rules. Pick two or three to begin with, not ten.

• Around 4 to 6: putting toys back in the box, putting dirty clothes in the basket, carrying their plate to the kitchen, feeding a pet with help, matching socks.
• Around 7 to 9: setting and clearing the table, making the bed, watering plants, sorting the recycling, wiping the table, putting away their own laundry.
• Around 10 to 12: emptying the dishwasher, vacuuming a room, taking the bins out, making a simple meal or packed lunch, hanging out washing, cleaning the bathroom sink.
• Teenagers: cooking a family meal, a load of laundry from start to finish, mowing the lawn, cleaning the car, walking the dog, looking after a younger sibling for an hour.

A useful split is expected versus extra. Expected chores (clearing your own plate, hanging up your coat) are just part of living in the house and don’t earn anything. Extra chores earn minutes. Say which is which out loud, once, and write it down.

How many minutes should a chore be worth?

There is no right number, but there are two useful rules of thumb. First, roughly one minute of screen time for one minute of effort, rounded to something easy: a five-minute job pays five minutes, emptying the dishwasher pays ten. Second, pay more for the jobs nobody wants. Cleaning the bathroom sink is worth more than watering a plant even if it takes the same time, because that is how work gets valued everywhere else too.

Then set a weekly ceiling on earning: the most a child can add to the bank in a week through chores and other effort. Without one, a motivated ten-year-old may do every chore in the house on Saturday morning and bank six hours. The ceiling decides how fast the bank can grow; it does not decide when minutes get spent. So agree the spending rules separately: which session lengths are allowed, and when screens are off regardless of the balance (bedtime, school, meals). Decide the ceiling first, then price the chores to fit.

Keep the values the same across siblings for the same job, and change them only at the weekly review, never in the moment.

Who decides when a chore is done?

A parent does, and that step has to be quick or it won’t happen. Three things make it quick:

• Define “done” when you set the chore. “Table cleared” means plates in the dishwasher, table wiped, chairs pushed in. Three items, not an essay.
• Ask for proof only when you can’t see it yourself. A photo of the made bed, or a one-line note, is enough. Don’t demand proof for things you walk past anyway.
• Agree when you will review completed chores, and approve the same day where possible. If you are going to be out, agree who else can approve.

Be generous with effort and strict with the definition. A seven-year-old’s made bed is lumpy. If the duvet is on and the pillow is at the top, that is a made bed.

How do we stop arguing about it?

• Write the rules where everyone can see them. Chore, value, what “done” means, the weekly ceiling, and the times screens are off regardless (bedtime, school, meals).
• Minutes are not a punishment currency. Earned time is earned. If behaviour needs a consequence, pick a consequence that isn’t the bank, or the bank stops meaning anything.
• No renegotiating mid-task. “Can this one count double?” gets “Ask me at the Sunday review.”
• Keep your side. If you promised to approve the same day, approve the same day. Children notice which rules apply to whom.
• Review weekly, briefly. Five minutes on Sunday: what worked, what to change, any new chores. This is where values move and new chores get added.

What should happen to unspent minutes?

This matters more than it looks. There are three common choices.

• Use it or lose it (minutes expire at the end of the day or week). Simple, but it pushes children to spend everything before the deadline, which means a screen binge on Sunday night and no incentive to save for something bigger.
• Rollover with a cap (minutes carry over, up to a limit). Better, but the cap becomes another thing to argue about.
• A bank that never expires, with the weekly ceiling on earning instead. The child can save for a long film or a weekend session, nothing is lost by choosing not to play tonight, and the ceiling limits how much new time can be earned each week. Banked minutes stay spendable; when and how long they are spent is set by your separate spending rules, such as session lengths and times when screens are off.

We think the third is the fairest and the calmest, which is why MoveToPlay works that way: the weekly maximum is the ceiling on what a child earns through their own effort (movement activities, walking, and approved chores together), while banked minutes never expire. If you run the scheme on paper, you can do exactly the same thing with a running total and a weekly earning limit.

Do we need an app? A whiteboard works.

Yes, it does, and for one child and one parent it may be all you need. The whiteboard version needs four things: a list of chores with values, a column for “done” that only a parent ticks, a running total of banked minutes, and the weekly ceiling written at the top. A jar of tokens (one token, five minutes) works for younger children who like to hold the thing they earned.

An app starts to earn its place when any of these are true: there are two or more children with separate totals; two parents approve and need to see the same numbers; you want proof photos without them cluttering your camera roll; or you want the screen time itself to be enforced on the device rather than on trust. Those are the problems MoveToPlay is built for.

How does MoveToPlay do chores?

MoveToPlay is a screen time app for kids on iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch. Children earn screen time by exercising and doing chores you approve. Minutes go into a bank that never expires, and on an iPhone or iPad you can lock the apps you choose until that time has been earned.

Chores for screen time, your way. Set what each chore is worth and how often it can come round again. Your child taps “I did it”, you approve, and the minutes are banked. Turn on proof and they add a photo or a short note first. Proof is reviewed by a parent and deleted automatically (within 14 days of a decision, or 30 days if never reviewed).

The weekly maximum is the ceiling on what a child earns through their own effort: movement activities, walking, and approved chores together. Guaranteed daily minutes, parent bonuses, and minutes refunded from ending a session early are outside it and always land in full. Banked minutes never expire. Minutes can also buy real-world rewards you price yourself, like a movie night or a trip out. Each child’s bank, quests, progression and rewards are separate, and the child-facing screens on a child’s device show only that child. A second parent can join with Family Sharing or a short pairing code.

Locking apps is optional and works on iPhone and iPad only; Apple Watch and Mac cannot lock apps, and there is no Android version. Free to download, and setup is free. To use the app, a parent starts the Annual or Monthly Family subscription (new subscribers get a 2-week free trial, then it renews unless cancelled in Settings) or buys Lifetime once for $19.99 (US price).

Read how MoveToPlay works and the questions parents ask, or download it on the App Store. The other guides cover Apple’s free Screen Time tools and earning screen time with exercise.