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FamStand — Parent User Manual & Guide

Welcome to FamStand, your household's central command center for chore tracking, positive reinforcement, and family gamification!

FamStand is designed to run continuously on a shared tablet placed in a high-traffic family area—like your kitchen counter or hallway—keeping daily responsibilities transparent, engaging, and fun for kids.

1. The Dashboard

The main screen is the beating heart of your household routine. It is designed to stay awake all day so children can glance at their daily progress anytime.

  • The Top Scoreboard: Prominently displays each child's avatar, name, and their live point balance. Point balances update automatically as chores are completed.
  • The Kid Columns: The board organizes daily tasks into dedicated, side-by-side columns—one for each child. Each child can easily focus on their own column to see what needs to be done today.
  • Bounties & Shared Chores Row: Situated near the top of the board, this horizontal row highlights special community chores, shared tasks, and high-value redo bounties.

2. Chore Statuses (The Traffic Light System)

FamStand uses an intuitive visual color coding system on chore cards so children of any reading level can instantly recognize what is ready, what is urgent, and what is coming up next:

  • 🟢 Green (Available / Completed): The chore is active and ready to be tackled right now, or has already been successfully completed today.
  • 🔴 Red (Needs Redo / Missed): The chore requires immediate attention. Either the chore was marked by a parent as needing to be redone properly, or it has passed its scheduled cutoff time.
  • ⚪ Gray (Locked): The chore is scheduled for later in the day or week and cannot be started just yet.
  • Point Badges: Every card shows the exact reward for finishing the task (e.g., +10 pts), plus any extra bonus or bounty (e.g., +5 bounty).

3. Completing a Chore

We built FamStand so children can independently check off their accomplishments with confidence and accountability:

  1. Tap the Chore: The child taps their chore card on the tablet screen.
  2. Select Name & Enter PIN: An on-screen numeric keypad pops up. The child selects their name (if multiple children are eligible) and types in their personal 4-6 digit Child PIN.
  3. Instant Celebration: If the PIN matches, the task moves to the completed state, and the points are immediately credited to their score on the top scoreboard.

Parent Tip: Child PINs are simple to remember (like 1234) and prevent siblings from accidentally or mischievously checking off someone else's work.

4. Strict Mode & The Bounty "Free-For-All"

FamStand includes a powerful rule setting designed to eliminate sibling bickering while supercharging motivation.

What is Strict Mode?

When Strict Mode is switched ON in Parent Settings, children are strictly restricted to completing chores assigned specifically to them: * Augustine can only check off Augustine's bed-making. * Apollo can only check off Apollo's homework. * A child's PIN will only work on their own tasks.

The Gamification Twist: The Bounty Free-For-All

Here is where the magic happens:

If a child does a rushed or incomplete job on a chore, a parent can flag that chore as Needs Redo and attach a Floating Bounty (e.g., +5 bounty points).

Once a chore enters "Needs Redo" with a bounty: * Strict Mode is bypassed! * The chore moves directly into the Bounties & Shared Chores row. * It becomes a household Free-For-All: any sibling in the family can step up, do the job right, punch in their own PIN, and claim the chore's base points plus the extra bounty reward!

This motivates kids to do chores thoroughly the first time, while offering an exciting incentive for other siblings to help keep the home tidy.

5. Parent Settings & Administration

All household configuration, child profiles, and rule settings are protected behind a secure Parent PIN.

Accessing Settings

  1. Tap the ⚙ Gear Icon in the top right corner of the scoreboard.
  2. First-Time Setup: If you haven't created a Parent PIN yet, you will be prompted to set up a private 4 to 6 digit PIN.
  3. Subsequent Access: Enter your Parent PIN to open the Settings screen.

What You Can Do in Settings

  • Manage Minions:
  • Add, edit, or remove children from your household.
  • Customize each child's display name, avatar accent color (e.g., #3B82F6 for Blue), and reset their Child PIN whenever needed.
  • Toggle Strict Mode: Turn chore assignment enforcement on or off with a single tap.
  • Change Parent PIN: Update your administrative PIN at any time.

6. Recurring Chore Templates

FamStand automatically stamps out your household's daily and routine chores every night at midnight, ensuring tomorrow's tasks are waiting when the kids wake up:

  • Recurrence Schedules:
  • Daily: Chores that reset every day (e.g., Make Bed, Brush Teeth).
  • Weekdays / Weekends: Automatically activates only on Monday–Friday or Saturday–Sunday.
  • Custom Cadence: Every X days, specific days of the week, or day of the month (e.g., Trash night every Wednesday, Deep clean every 3 days).
  • Rolling Chores: Chores that wait until completed before starting the countdown clock again. For example, "Water plants every 4 days" only resets 4 days after it was actually watered.
  • Smart Duplication Guard: If yesterday's chore wasn't finished and is still pending or marked for redo, the engine will never stamp out an accidental duplicate.
  • Instant Chore Generation ("Generate for Today?"): When creating a new repeating chore whose schedule matches today, FamStand asks if you want to generate an active chore immediately on the board or wait until the next scheduled midnight sweep.
  • Active Chore Updates ("Update active chore?"): If you edit a chore template that already has an active task on the board today, FamStand prompts whether to update today's active chore immediately or only apply the changes to future days.

7. Device Roles & PIN Bypass for Parents

FamStand can run both as the always-on family kitchen hub and on your personal smartphone:

  • Household Display Mode: Keeps the tablet display awake all day so children can glance at their daily board at any time.
  • Parent Phone Mode: Allows normal battery-saving sleep when idle.
  • Keep This Device Unlocked: When enabled on your personal phone, you can skip the Parent PIN when opening Settings or editing chores, giving you quick, effortless management while keeping the tablet secure.

8. Midnight Sweep & Missed Chore Penalties

Consistency is key to building good habits: * The Midnight Cutoff: Chores that are left uncompleted past their cutoff time transition automatically to Missed during the Midnight Sweep and clear from the active board. * Customizable Missed Penalties: * Half Points (Default): Deducts 50% of the chore's base value from the assigned child's balance. * Full Points: Deducts 100% of the chore's base value. * Fixed Penalty: Deducts a flat point penalty configured by the parent (e.g., -5 points). * Redo Tasks: Tasks flagged for redo that aren't corrected before the cutoff will also transition to Missed, applying the penalty to the original completer.

Enjoy a cleaner, more harmonious home with FamStand!