Start With the Conversation

Before you open the app, sit down with your children and talk through why you're introducing this. The reasons are usually familiar — the morning battles, the constant nagging, the endless requests for more device time. Let them know that screen time isn't going away; they just need to earn it.

Talk through what you expect of them each day. Be specific. "Getting ready in the morning" in our house means dressed, breakfast eaten, and bag packed — without being asked. That shared understanding matters, because it becomes the foundation of their board.

Building Your List

Write down the things that cause the most friction day to day. These are your candidates for the board. Think daily or near-daily responsibilities — the things you find yourself repeating.

Some common starting points:

• Getting ready for school

• Tidying up after meals

• Cleaning up toys or their personal space

• Doing homework

• Practising a musical instrument

• Going to bed at the agreed time

Keep the framing positive — "clean up toys" rather than "don't make a mess." If you have more than one child, their lists may differ depending on age and expectation; ScreenTickr handles each child separately.

Assign each task a number of minutes. We use five minutes per task as a baseline. With six tasks a day across a week, a child can earn close to three and a half hours of screen time — plenty of incentive to follow through.

Setting Up in ScreenTickr

Once you know your list, open ScreenTickr and create a new Template. Give it a name and description — something like "Mia's Weekly Board." The app offers a list of commonly used tasks to get you started, or you can add your own. Each task has a name and a minute value, and you can limit it to specific days if needed (homework, for example, might only apply Monday to Friday).

You'll only need to create the template once. It's designed to be reused — update it when responsibilities change as your child gets older.

When you're ready to begin, Activate the template. Select the child it's for and choose a start date. We start on Saturday so the minutes earned are ready for weekend screen time, but Monday works just as well. The activated template becomes your Board — the live tracker for that week.

Tracking Progress

ScreenTickr is a parent tool, and that's intentional. The app lets you track tasks, but the goal is to reduce screen time, not add to it. A physical board works well alongside the app.

ScreenTickr can print a weekly chart with empty boxes your child can tick off as they go — or pick up an erasable rewards chart from a stationery store. We actually started with a physical chart before building the app; the routine still works well. As a parent you mark things off in the app, while your child crosses off the board. It's a helpful visual reminder of what's expected.

End of the Week

Sit down together and go through how the week went. Add up the minutes — ScreenTickr calculates the total automatically, but letting your children count it up themselves can be a great learning moment. Once the total is confirmed, they're free to use their earned screen time within whatever guidelines your family has agreed on.

Then activate a new board with a new start date, and the cycle begins again.

Looking Back

ScreenTickr keeps a history of every completed board. Over time you'll start to see patterns — tasks that are always ticked, tasks that are consistently missed. That data is useful. It helps you have a more grounded conversation with your child about where they're doing well and where they might need support.

The goal isn't perfection. It's fewer battles, more independence, and a gradual understanding that the things we want come after the things we need to do.