We have been testing at home the application developed by La Caixa which allows to manage, using a mobile device, iPhone or iPad, the domestic economy of the smallest of the house. The application allows to censor the children and the payments that are assigned according to, for example, the performance of certain tasks. In addition, it also allows other monetary allocations to be made for loans, for cash requests, in addition to the fact that the balance can be increased depending on the performance of additional tasks.
That is the application is a planner, with graphic representation, of the income and expenses of the children. The purpose of the application is to teach them to save by assigning payments and tasks that may include completion dates. This way, the children will learn to grow their savings as they fulfill the assigned tasks. It can also serve to explain and apply concepts as pay, loan or balance movements.
It has a profile for parents, from which the savings are managed and the tasks are tracked, and another one for each child, from which they themselves can see the evolution of their savings and decide what tasks they carry out, for example, request the loans.
It is one of the most attractive features of the application, each parent and each child has an access code that allows him, once identified, to access the options that each user profile has. And that way you can share the double vision in the family and learn the concepts that apply.
The application shows the effort made in the graphic elements built-in and user experience based on simple touches of the screen and the ease of censoring data and making requests. In addition, the indicators of new messages or new requests are very intuitive for the whole family to understand. There is also a small dictionary to explain the concepts used.
Between the improvements that would be included in the application I wish they were allowed to choose predefined tasks to help parents to associate them with children and especially so that they feel useful and values that their work and effort have associated rewards in the form of money. In addition it would also include a list of typical expenses of the kids, such as buying sweets, magazines, books, toys or school supplies, so that learn that your effort translates into achievements. Because what it is about is learning to value both the tasks that are performed and the rewards that are obtained. Money is still the instrument used to facilitate valuation.
The application is free and it is not necessary to be a La Caixa client to download it. The application is specific to iPhone so if you want to see it running on the iPad you have to use the zoom losing a bit of definition in the image. I think it is suitable for children from 10 years old because they will not only see it as a game but as a commitment to start taking responsibility for their performances.
