Things worth having
take effort

I have five children, and I teach them at home. My wife has been unwell for a long time, so the running of the house — the lessons, the meals, the washing, the endless small jobs — mostly falls to me, alongside my actual work. If you’ve ever tried to hold down a job while home-educating five children, you’ll know the maths doesn’t work. Something has to give, and usually it’s your patience.

Chores were the worst of it. Not because my children are lazy — because nothing connected. I’d ask, they’d forget, I’d ask again, and we’d both end up frustrated. Homework was the same. Every task became a negotiation I had to win, five times over, every single day.

Eventually I realised I had it backwards. I was asking them to do things for me. What I actually wanted was for them to understand why those things were worth doing — and that isn’t a discipline problem. It’s an economics one.

Earning takes effort — and different jobs are worth different amounts. Cleaning the bathroom isn’t the same as putting a plate away.

Spending takes effort too — because the thing you’re buying represents hours of someone’s work. Now it’s their money.

When a child genuinely understands both halves, the nagging stops being necessary. The chore isn’t a favour to Dad any more. It’s a trade they’ve chosen to make.

So I built a rough version of what became KidsGigs. I’ve spent 20 years in tech — 5 as a developer, the rest across engineering and product — so I could build it myself. Nothing clever at first: a list of jobs, each with a value, and a wallet that went up when they were done. The children could see what everything was worth, choose what they wanted to earn, and watch it add up towards something they actually wanted.

The atmosphere in the house changed almost immediately.

Not perfectly, and not for everything overnight — but the arguing stopped. Instead of me chasing them, they started asking what else needed doing. One of them worked out which jobs paid best for the time. Another saved for weeks for something, and it meant more to them than anything I’ve simply bought.

That’s the whole idea. Chores stopped being a battle and became a small economy the children had a stake in.

KidsGigs is that, built properly. Chores with real values, a payday, savings goals — and the part I’m proudest of, room to negotiate. Kids can bid against each other for the bigger jobs, appeal a decision they think is unfair, and earn back a penalty. Because the lesson isn’t “do as you’re told.” It’s that fair systems can be worked with — a skill they’ll need long after they’ve left my kitchen.

I built it because I needed it. I’m not a consultant who researched the problem. I’m not a VC-backed founder chasing a TAM. I’m a dad who got tired of nagging and built something better. If your house feels anything like mine did, it might help yours too.