I’m building TaskTots because I started noticing something in our house that I’m guessing a lot of parents will recognize.

It wasn’t that my kids couldn’t help or didn’t want to help. It was that getting them into a routine felt way harder than it “should” be.

And with life being… insane… the path of least resistance started winning more and more. It became easier for my wife and I to just do things ourselves - things the kids genuinely could handle - because the energy it took to coach, remind, negotiate, and follow up was often more than the task was worth.

But over time, I didn’t love what that created:

the kids weren’t building consistency
the responsibility load kept drifting upward to the adults
and the “nag loop” started creeping in, even when nobody wanted it

So TaskTots started as a simple goal: make routines easier to build and easier to keep, for kids and parents.

What TaskTots is trying to achieve

At its core, TaskTots is a family tool to:

make chores and goals clear and visible
reduce the parent “nag burden”
help kids build confidence and follow-through
turn progress into something kids can feel (points, streaks, rewards, unlocks)

It’s not about turning kids into productivity robots. It’s about creating a system where effort is noticed, progress is tracked, and routines don’t collapse the moment life gets busy.

Where the project is right now

As of today, the chore manager is pretty much ready in terms of the core loop. The was the lowest hanging fruit and I guess you could all it the proof of concept. The possibilities are endless, but for now, chores will be the main focus.

The blog is new, and I’m going to use it for:

dev updates (what shipped, what broke, what changed)
design decisions (why I chose certain approaches)
roadmap posts as the alpha gets closer
occasional deep dives into features that are working well (or not)

The plan: soft public launch on April 1, 2026

My goal is a soft public launch of a very early alpha on April 1, 2026.

Calling it “early alpha” is intentional. This won’t be a polished product on day one. The point is to put something real in people’s hands, learn quickly, and build the right thing.

What you can expect in the alpha

The alpha is focused on doing a few things well, not doing everything.

You can expect:

a working chore flow that feels reliable
a parent view that makes managing chores fast
a kid view that makes completing chores feel rewarding
the start of a rewards/points loop that’s motivating without being annoying

What you should not expect yet

To keep expectations sane, here’s what probably won’t be in the first alpha (or will be rough):

advanced analytics / fancy dashboards
lots of customization knobs
a huge library of templates
“perfect” onboarding and edge-case handling

If you’re the kind of person who enjoys being an early tester and giving feedback, you’ll be right at home. If you want a finished app you never have to think about, it’ll be better to wait.

What I’m optimizing for (and what I’m not)

I’m optimizing for:

low friction (fast to use daily)
clarity (kids should understand what to do)
consistency (parents shouldn’t have to babysit the system)
realistic family life (missed days happen; the system shouldn’t collapse)

I’m not optimizing for:

maximum features
endless configuration
gamification for its own sake

How you can help

As the alpha gets closer, I’ll be looking for:

parents who will test with real family routines (not “ideal usage”)
feedback on what’s confusing, slow, or annoying
edge cases (multiple kids, recurring chores, different reward styles, etc.)

If you follow along here, you’ll see progress posts and you’ll also see the tradeoffs. I’m building this the way most people build real family systems: iteratively, with honesty, and with a focus on what actually gets used.

What’s next

Some of you may have already noticed that you can already request access today! That’s intentional, and if you are interested, I encourage you to request access here. Just keep in mind, that I am changing things rapidly and there is no guarnetee that things won’t break, disappear etc. That said, I will do my best to try and make sure that doesn’t happen.

Next up, I’ll share:

a clearer alpha scope (“must-have” vs “nice-to-have”)
early screenshots/clips as things stabilize
how points and rewards will work in the simplest version
the feedback loop I’ll use so testers can report issues without hassle

If you’ve ever felt the “it’s easier if I just do it” gravity in a busy household, you already understand why I’m building this.