I’ve Tried So Many Chore Charts—This Is the First One My Daughter Actually Uses

I’ve tried just about every type of chore chart you can think of. Sticker charts, dry-erase marker charts, wooden chore charts, routine calendars, routine game boards—you name it, I’ve probably bought it.

My five-year-old daughter is very much a free spirit, and while she thrives once we have a routine in place, getting her to actually stick with that routine has always been the hard part. The enthusiasm is there at first, but it usually wanes quickly once the novelty of whatever chore chart we’re using wears off.

We actually tried using our Skylight Calendar for chores, too. We’ve had it in our kitchen for over a year and love it, especially the shared family calendar and the photo screensaver. But ours is mounted pretty high on the wall, and with younger kids, I didn’t really want them reaching up to use it—or leaving their fingerprints all over the screen. So while it’s been great for keeping our family organized, it never really became an effective chore or routine system for the kids.

When Skylight came out with Buddy, its kid-focused device, I was curious but wasn’t expecting much because, frankly, it just looked like a souped-up alarm clock. But we’ve now been using it consistently for three months, and I’m honestly surprised by how well it has worked for my daughter. Here’s everything you need to know about Buddy, how we use it, what’s worked for us, and what I’d change.

Think of Buddy as a more capable alarm clock designed specifically for kids. It combines a clock, timer, nightlight, sound machine, weather display, and interactive routine features in one small device. Parents manage Buddy through the Skylight app, where they can set up daily routines and responsibilities for their child to check off. Kids then interact with Buddy directly to work through their tasks and mark them complete. They can earn stars for each item they complete, working toward a reward that you set.

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Buddy can connect to a Skylight Calendar, but you don’t need one to use it. The device costs $139, with colorful silicone cases available separately for $19.99. Buddy Plus features are included with a Skylight Calendar Plus subscription; otherwise, Buddy Plus costs $39 per year for the whole household, so you can activate multiple Buddy devices on one plan.

It’s not a tablet or smart speaker, and there’s purposefully no web browsing, social media, outside apps, camera, or microphone. It’s designed to give kids something they can interact with on their own, without all the distractions and access that come with a typical smart device.

When we first got Buddy, I added a few chores without really putting much thought into it. I wasn't expecting much from it, so I figured we'd try it and see what happened. My daughter was actually following the chores by the first day, which I expected because anything new and novel she is into, but a week later, she was still taking them seriously and following each step, which was a surprise.

So I decided to take it a step further and put her actual morning and nighttime routines on it. Instead of just having a few chores listed, she could see each step she needed to get through. Getting dressed, making her bed, remembering her inhaler, brushing her teeth, tidying up her room, and the other little things that make up her morning could all be part of the routine. She could work through them herself and check them off as she went.

But there are other features that have helped, too, like Buddy’s weather report. It’s a visual, hour-by-hour weather module, and my daughter can check it to help figure out what she’s wearing to school. Buddy will have a little umbrella if it’s raining along with other cute reactions that she loves seeing. And the timer is one of her favorites because she can use it to race against the clock while getting dressed in the morning.

One of the most used features on it, though, is that she can turn on the nightlight easily by herself, and the night mode screen is very calm and can shut off while keeping the nightlight active, which is a great plus. Before it’s time for bed, I have Buddy leave her a voice message that I can schedule through the app. Usually I’ll say something about how we are proud of her for keeping up with her chores and wish her a good night’s sleep. On days when I am working late, I can leave a voice message on Buddy from Mom to play at a certain time so she can hear me before bed.

At first, I thought Buddy seemed like a very basic device and I didn’t really think it would make a difference when I unboxed it. But I think that simplicity is part of why it works for her. It’s structured around her actual chores and daily routines, without the distractions that come with other devices, like games or endless scrolling.

The biggest thing is that she actually likes using it. She likes checking things off and seeing that she’s finished something, and when she gets through all of her tasks for the day, Buddy does a little celebration on the screen. For whatever reason, she finds this very entertaining and really looks forward to it. If she doesn’t finish everything, she doesn’t get the celebration, and she definitely doesn’t want to miss it.

I also set her reward at 1,000 stars. That might sound crazy, and you can choose the reward and the number of stars yourself, but I like having a bigger goal for her to work toward. We’ve tried reward systems in the past where she immediately expected a prize, and I’m trying to teach her that consistency is the important part. With 1,000 stars, she knows there’s something waiting for her eventually, but she isn’t focused on getting a reward every single day. Now that we’ve been using Buddy for about three months, she’s still working through her routines, using the timer, and checking things off. She’s reading the steps herself, even when I change things around.

For me, the biggest benefit has been the independence. She still needs reminders, but she’s more willing to get herself ready in the morning and work through her evening routine without me having to direct every step. She’ll even remind me if I forget a step, which is pretty remarkable considering I used to be the one constantly reminding her.

Buddy has added quite a few features since we first started using it, so I’m mostly curious to see what comes next. Some of the things available now like the weather and voice messages weren’t there when we first got ours, and I like that Skylight is continuing to add and improve features through updates.

But one thing we’ve learned is that Buddy isn't really something my kids can share. My younger son is now interested in having one of his own, and my daughter gets upset when he decides to “help” by completing one or more of her tasks on her Buddy. It's easy enough to undo it, but it still causes one or both of them to have a meltdown. If you have multiple kids who want to use it, I'd plan on them each having their own depending on your budget.

There are other features, like white noise and the alarm clock, that we haven't really used yet, but it’s nice to have those options there if we decide we need them. One other thing I ran into is that Buddy only works with the included power cord and plug. I tried using a flat outlet plug so the cord could sit flush against the wall, but Buddy wouldn’t turn on with it. If you’re keeping Buddy on a dresser with the outlet behind it for instance, the cord sticking straight out can be a little tricky, so having a few different plug options would have been helpful.

Buddy hasn’t magically made chores easy or eliminated all of my reminders for my five-year-old, but I do think it’s really worth it because my daughter actually wants to participate in her routine now. That alone is a very big change for us.

I like that it doesn’t feel like I’m giving her a tablet or another smart device, but something she can interact with that’s limited to what she actually needs and nothing more. Having the clock, nightlight, timer, sound machine, and routine features all together means it takes the place of a few different things we’d otherwise have sitting around and taking up space in her room.

After about three months, the thing that stands out to me most is still the same thing that surprised me in the beginning: she uses it. She’s more willing to get herself ready, she’s remembering things she used to need reminders for, and she hasn’t lost interest in the system. After trying so many different chore charts, that makes it well worth it for me.

Stefani Sassos, MS, RDN, CDN, is the director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab, where she oversees nutrition content, product testing, and evaluation. A registered dietitian and mom of two young children, she brings both evidence-based expertise and real-world parenting perspective to her reporting on kids’ nutrition and products. She has tested and evaluated a wide range of children’s and family products for Good Housekeeping and serves as a key judge for the Good Housekeeping Parenting Awards.