Chores
level up real skills.
Points are spendable. XP is permanent. Every chore can tag to a skill so a year of brushing teeth builds a real-looking Self Care tree.
Points get spent. Effort should also stick around.
Most chore-and-reward apps have one currency. Points in, points out. Once the kid spends them, all evidence of the work disappears. The kid asks why they should keep doing it and the only answer is 'so you can spend more points.' The intrinsic motivation never lands.
Skill trees split the ledger. Spendable points still convert to real-world rewards. But every chore can also drop XP into a skill: Self Care, Reading, Cooking, Money, whatever you build. XP doesn't get spent. The tree fills up over months and years.
Twelve-year-old Kai looks at his Cooking tree and sees three years of dinner prep. That's the part the app remembers when the points are long spent.
Build the trees your family cares about
Start with categories: 'Self Care', 'Reading', 'Cooking', 'Money'. Add skill nodes under each. You decide the structure; we don't ship a fixed taxonomy.
- Unlimited categories
- Branching node trees, not just flat lists
- Per-node XP cost to unlock
Connect chores to nodes
When you create or edit a chore, tag it to one or more skill nodes. Completing the chore drops XP into those nodes. A single chore can feed multiple skills if it genuinely teaches multiple things.
- Multi-skill tagging supported
- XP value per chore is independent of points
- Untagged chores still pay points, just no XP
Kid sees the tree fill
On the kid side, skill trees are a separate tab. They see node progress bars, unlock celebrations, and a permanent record of what they've built. No spending it away.
- Per-kid tree, never shared
- Unlock animation on node complete
- History view: 'when did I unlock this'
But what about…
Do I have to use skill trees?
No. Skip them entirely and Chicknz works as a chore + reward app. Skill trees are opt-in scaffolding for families who want long-term progression.
Can two siblings share a tree?
No. Each kid builds their own. Sharing dilutes the personal-accomplishment signal and creates weird incentives.
What happens to XP if I delete a chore?
XP already earned stays. We don't claw it back when a chore is removed.
Can I see XP across all kids?
Parent overview has an aggregate view: who's leveling fastest in what. Useful for spotting which kid loves Cooking and which kid avoids Reading.
Try it with your family.
Free during beta. Import a family or start from scratch. Takes five minutes. Your fridge will thank you.