Introduction
Whenever anyone mentions smartphones and children in the same sentence, it is usually to describe how smartphones are a big time-waster and how bad they are for children’s overall health. However, our app was designed first and foremost as an app to motivate your child. This blog post gives a high-level overview of how to use our A+ Points app on your smartphone.
An app to motivate your child
A+ Points is a mobile app that’s available for both iPhone and Android. It is designed for parents and guardians to assign tasks (or goals) and rewards for children. The idea behind using the app is that children can get very motivated to complete a certain task, if they know that they’re getting a reward for completing it. In time, there’s a very good chance that they will continue to do this task, even if the reward is no longer the motivation.
The app can be used on phones or tablets. It is recommended for parents to login and use the app on a mobile phone. Children, on the other hand, are encouraged to use the app on tablets, like an iPad. In the sections below, let’s take a look at how the app works.
Step 1: Installing A+ Points
Depending on the phone that you use, you can install the app from the Apple App Store or from Google Play Store. Once you download and install the app, open it and create an account.
Step 2: Creating an account
When you first launch the app, you are presented with the Login screen. Tap on the “Sign Up” button (as shown in the screenshot above) to be taken to the Sign Up screen.
Fill all the fields in the sign up form. Make sure to enter a valid email address because this will be your username for logging in. This is also be the email address that we will use to send you password reset confirmations and important account information. Read the terms of service and then tap the “Sign Up” button. This will create a new account for you.
Step 3: Setting up your new account
The first thing to do after creating your account, is to setup your children on the app. Tapping on the “Add Child” button will take you to the screen where you will be able to enter the child’s name and an optional picture. Repeat this for every child you want to add on the app.
Goals setup
After setting up all the children you want to add, tap the “Add a goal” button. This will take you to the screen where you can add goals (or tasks) for your children to complete.
When setting up a goal, give it a good description. For example, “Finish homework on time”, “Clean and tidy up”, etc. You also have to specify how many maximum points are to be awarded if this goal is reached. Lastly, select the children that this goal applies to, by checking the box next to the child’s name. This is because we know that not all goals apply to all children. For example, maybe you only want to assign the goal of “Wash your hands before dinner” to your younger children (teenagers probably won’t like being assigned this goal!).
Rewards setup
This is the last step to complete setting up your account. Tap on the “Add a reward” button, and give a description of the reward. For example, “New toy” or “Going to the cinema”. Also, specify how many points are needed to get this reward. Optionally, you can add an image to give a visual motivation to the child.
Step 4: Start assigning points
Now that you have your account setup, you can start assigning points. To do that, from the main screen, tap on the child’s name. This will open a new screen showing all the goals that are assigned to this child and a slider next to each goal. Move each slider to the desired points that you feel are appropriate for the goal. When you’re happy with the points you want to assign, tap the “Assign Points” button and you’re done!
Setup a reminder
Points are typically assigned once every day. However, we know that sometimes you might forget to do it. So, to help you keep on top of this task, you have the option to setup a reminder from within the app. To do that, go to Settings and enable the “Daily reminder” option (as you can see from the screenshot above).
Summary
A+ Points is an app to motivate your child to complete the tasks that you assign to them. We hope that you found this introduction helpful and that you’re ready now to use the app and see the benefits from using it. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below, or send us an email or a DM on any of our social media profiles.