讓孩子們愛上家務的軟件

Few parents see digital games as a promising way to pry kids off the couch─much less inspire them to be useful around the house. But a new generation of chore apps, designed primarily for the under-12 set, aims to turn kids into bed makers, laundry folders and toy picker-uppers by offering rewards ranging from funny collectible monsters to redeemable digital coins.
沒有多少家長會把電子遊戲當成讓孩子們離開沙發的好辦法，更不用說讓電子遊戲來激勵孩子們在家裏發揮作用了。不過如今有了新一代的主要針對12歲以下孩童開發的家政軟件，這些軟件通過爲孩子們提供獎勵，比如可收集的好玩怪獸或者可兌換的電子貨幣，希望把孩子們變成整理牀鋪、摺疊衣服和收拾玩具的“高手”。

Brooke Wise of Dallas says a $3.99 smartphone app called You Rule Chores has her three children, Justin, 12, Rafaela, 9, and Will, 4, actually competing to see who can do more housework. The children were involved from the start, helping their mom enter the list of chores, including laundry, cleaning up after the family dog and loading and unloading the dishwasher. Each child chose one of the app's six avatars, which include a pink kitty, a robot scientist and an intergalactic policeman.
達拉斯的布魯克•懷斯(Brooke Wise)說，一款售價爲3.99美元的叫做“家務，你說了算”(You Rule Chores)的智能手機軟件真的讓她的三個孩子──12歲的賈斯廷(Justin)、九歲的拉斐拉(Rafaela)和四歲的威爾(Will)──開始比賽誰可以做更多家務了。孩子們幫助媽媽完成待做的家務，包括洗衣服、清理寵物狗的排泄物、把髒碗碟放進洗碗機、將乾淨的碗碟收好，等等。每個孩子都在軟件中選擇了一個自己的虛擬化身，可供選擇的化身一共有六個，包括一隻粉紅色小貓、一個機器人科學家和一名星際警察。

For chores completed─and approved by Ms. Wise─the app doles out digital coins the kids can redeem for rewards, such as TV time or a trip to the yogurt store. The siblings compete to see who wins the most coins and like seeing their avatars earn new strengths and skills each time they finish a job. Rafaela says she loves playing with her kitty avatar, and 'it's fun getting paid' in rewards.
完成家務並且得到懷斯的核準後，該軟件就會相應獎勵一些電子貨幣，孩子們可以用這些貨幣來兌換獎品，比如看電視的時間或去酸奶店喝酸奶的機會。三個人相互競爭，看誰贏得了最多的貨幣，他們也喜歡看到自己的虛擬化身在每次完成家務之後獲得的新能量和新技能。拉斐拉說，她很享受操作她的小貓化身，另外，“能夠得到報酬也十分有趣”。

For Ms. Wise, who says she was concerned about keeping the kids busy this summer, the results have been surprising: 'They make their bed, pick up their rooms, and my daughter goes out in the yard and picks up the dog poop! I'm like, 'Who are these children?' '
之前，懷斯很頭疼如何才能讓孩子們在這個夏天過得充實些，現在的結果讓她非常吃驚：“他們自己整理牀鋪，整理房間，我的女兒還跑去院子裏清理狗糞！我都要驚呼了：‘這是誰家的孩子啊？’”

While preschoolers often like to lend a hand with adult tasks, fewer parents are optimistic they will hear the words 'What can I do to help?' from their older kids. The number of 9- to 12-year-olds who help with household tasks fell 9% between 1997 and 2003 to 72%, according to the latest trend data available, published in a study in the International Journal of Time Use Research. And it may have fallen further amid kids' rising use of videogames, computers and cellphones, says the study's author, Sandra Hofferth, a family-science professor at the University of Maryland and an authority on children's time use. By ages 16 to 18, only 65% of kids take part in chores, Dr. Hofferth says.
學齡前兒童往往喜歡幫大人們做家務，至於年齡較大的孩子，家長們就不怎麼指望能從他們口中聽到“我能幫你做些什麼嗎”這樣的話了。根據《國際時間使用研究雜誌》(International Journal of Time Use Research)公佈的最新趨勢數據，在九至12歲的孩童中，幫助大人做家務的孩童比例在2003年爲72%，比1997年減少了9%。該研究報告的作者桑德拉•霍弗爾茲(Sandra Hofferth)說，由於電子遊戲、電腦和手機越來越多地佔據了孩子們的時間，這個比例應該已經進一步下降了。霍弗爾茲博士是馬里蘭大學(University of Maryland)家庭學教授，同時也是兒童使用時間問題方面的權威。她說，16至18歲的青少年中，只有65%的人會幫着做家務。

App designer Brian Linder says he and his business partner Nathan Clark launched You Rule Chores in 2011 because 'we knew it was always a pain in the butt to get our kids to do work around the house.' They wanted to motivate kids without 'the nagging and the repeating yourself over and over until you sound like an insane person and end up doing the chores yourself,' says Mr. Linder, of Dallas, whose own sons are 9 and 12.
應用程序設計師布賴恩•林德(Brian Linder)說，他和他的合作伙伴內森•克拉克(Nathan Clark)於2011年推出了這款“家務，你說了算”軟件，因爲“我們知道怎樣讓孩子做家務始終是讓家長頭疼的一個問題”。林德和克拉克希望能激勵孩子們去做家務，而不是家長們“一遍又一遍地嘮叨和重複，搞得自己像個瘋子一樣，結果到最後還是得自己把家務做完”。家住達拉斯的林德有兩個兒子，一個九歲，一個12歲。

Parents don't mind the apps' resemblance to videogames because so many children are already entranced by games on their smartphones and hand-held game consoles, he says.
林德說，家長們並不介意這一應用程序與電子遊戲類似，因爲現在有很多孩子本來就沉迷於各種智能手機和遊戲機上的遊戲。

Chris Bergman of Cincinnati, father of an 18-month-old son, says he worked with another dad to launch an app called ChoreMonster earlier this year because he wanted housework to be fun for kids. 'Chores were a huge tension point in my home' when growing up, he says. 'I was always getting in trouble.' The app, available at $4.99 a month for use on the Web and with Apple's mobile devices, gives points and rewards for chores, along with passes to a Monster Carnival where kids play to win either one of the game's 200 humorous monsters or a booby prize such as stinky socks.
辛辛那提的克里斯•伯格曼(Chris Bergman)有一個18個月大的兒子。他說他與另一位父親在今年早些時候發佈了一款叫做“家務怪獸”(ChoreMonster)的應用軟件，因爲他希望讓孩子們覺得做家務是有趣的。伯格曼說，在我成長的過程中，“家務是家中的敏感話題，我也總是因此惹上麻煩”。該應用程序費用爲每月4.99美元，可以在網頁以及蘋果公司(Apple)的相關移動設備上使用。這款應用軟件會給予點數和獎品作爲完成家務的回報，它還會派送一些通關卡，這樣孩子們就能參與到“怪獸嘉年華”(Monster Carnival)中贏取200只幽默怪獸或者一些古怪的獎品，比如臭襪子。

Hannah Carpenter of Searcy, Ark., says she had trouble structuring a housework system for her four children, ages 1 through 10, until she started using ChoreMonster in February. The app 'is a huge motivator,' and her kids are gaining skills, she says. Her 4-year-old daughter Enid has learned to fold and put away laundry, Ms. Carpenter says, and her 10-year-old daughter Tristin rushes to help out, saying, 'Don't unload the dishwasher─I want to do it.'
阿肯色州瑟西(Searcy)的漢娜•卡彭特(Hannah Carpenter)說，在二月份開始使用“家政怪獸”應用之前，她一直沒能很好地給她那四個年齡從一歲到10歲的孩子分配家務。她說，這款應用程序“是一個巨大的動力”，她的孩子們也因此學到了技能。卡彭特說，四歲的女兒伊妮德(Enid)已經學會了疊衣服並把衣服歸置好，10歲的女兒特里斯丁(Tristin)也很積極，她會說：“別把碗碟從洗碗機裏拿出來──我想要幹這個活兒。”Other apps include Epic Win, a role-playing to-do list manager, and iRewardChart and Chore Pad, digital replacements for traditional chore charts with stickers or stars.
其它的此類應用包括一款可以角色扮演的待做家務清單軟件“史詩勝利”(Epic Win)，以及“獎勵表格”(iRewardChart)和“家務便箋”(Chore Pad)，後兩款軟件可以取代傳統的用便籤紙和小星星來做標記的家務清單。

Chores teach kids self-control and self-regulation, says Jim Fay, co-founder of the Love and Logic Institute, a Golden, Colo., provider of parent training and resources. Research shows self-regulation─learning to invest effort and persist in finishing difficult tasks─is a powerful predictor of academic and career success. It's best to start instilling the habit early, Mr. Fay says, teaching children that chores are a shared family responsibility and each member is expected to contribute. If parents can find a way to make chores fun by, say, pretending the open washing machine is a basketball hoop, he says, 'go for it.'
科羅拉多州戈爾登(Golden)的“愛與邏輯事務所”(Love and Logic Institute)的聯合創始人吉姆•費伊(Jim Fay)說，家務能夠教會孩子自我控制和自我調節。該事務所是一家專門提供家庭教育培訓和資源的機構。研究表明，自我調節能力──投入努力並堅持完成艱鉅任務的能力──是學術和職業生涯能否成功的一個重要指標。費伊說，自我調節習慣越早灌輸越好，應該讓孩子們明白：家務是一種需要分擔的家庭責任，每一位家庭成員都應該貢獻自己的力量。他說，家長如果能找到一種方法讓做家務變得更加有趣，比如讓孩子把打開的洗衣機看成是個投籃筐，那麼“就這樣去做吧”。

Working side by side with youngsters on household jobs can be a motivator. By the time they were 3, each of Denise Benham's four kids was pushing a toy lawn mower around the yard behind their father Royce, says the Kennewick, Wash., mother. They learned as toddlers to measure and do basic math by breaking eggs for pancake batter and pouring soap into the washer. Now 4 to 16, the kids do chores with their parents most Saturdays. 'A bond is created when we work together,' Ms. Benham says, while also conveying the importance of a clean, orderly home.
和其他的孩子一起做家務也會是一種動力。華盛頓州肯納威克(Kennewick)的丹尼絲•貝納姆(Denise Benham)是四個孩子的母親，她說，每個孩子在三歲左右的時候都要在院子裏跟在父親羅伊斯(Royce)身後推一臺玩具割草機。他們幼兒時期就學會了測量，並通過做煎餅時幫忙打雞蛋和將洗衣液倒入洗衣機這些事情來學習基本的算數。現在最小的孩子已經四歲，最大的16歲，他們幾乎每個星期六都會和父母一同做家務。貝納姆說：“我們一起幹活時建立了一種特殊的關係”，同時也向孩子們傳達了家裏整潔有序很重要這一信息。

Parenting experts advise treating teens like adults, setting clear expectations and consistent consequences. Jayna and David Cox write and sign a housework contract annually with their 13-year-old twins, Seth and Jenna, paying $5 a week for duties such as laundry and kitchen cleanup, says Ms. Cox, of Oklahoma City. This year, they added mowing the lawn. 'We're businesspeople, and we feel it doesn't hurt for the children to learn a few things about business,' says Ms. Cox, an information-technology project manager. The twins can earn bonuses for extra work, but their pay is docked if they slack off.
家庭教育專家建議，對待青少年應該和對待大人一樣，設定明確的期望和前後一致的獎懲。俄克拉何馬城(Oklahoma City)的傑娜•科克斯(Jayna Cox)和戴維•科克斯(David Cox)夫婦有一對13歲的雙胞胎孩子──塞思(Seth)和詹娜(Jenna)。每年父母都會和雙胞胎簽訂一份家務合同，合同規定每週會支付雙胞胎五美元以完成洗衣服和清理廚房等家務。今年，他們又增加了修剪草坪的項目。身爲IT項目經理的傑娜說：“作爲商務人士，我們覺得讓孩子們瞭解一些商業知識沒什麼壞處。”雙胞胎可以通過額外的工作賺取獎金，但一旦他們在家務事上有所懈怠，薪酬就會遭到削減。

Such setups require parents to coach their kids on housework skills, but also to give up some control─and avoid micromanaging, which can lead to conflict with teens trying to assert their independence. Ms. Cox says that while she has shown Seth and Jenna how to do laundry correctly, Seth still washes colors and whites together sometimes. 'He doesn't always care if his socks were once white and are all gray now,' she says.
這樣的安排要求家長們能夠在家務技能方面指導他們的孩子，但也意味着要放棄一些控制，還要避免事無鉅細的監管，因爲這可能會導致父母與努力要證明自身獨立的孩子發生衝突。傑娜說，儘管她已經教過塞思和詹娜如何洗衣服，可是有的時候塞思還是會將有色衣物和白色衣物混在一起洗。她說：“他一點也不在乎原來的白襪子被染成灰色了。”

More important, she says, is that the twins are learning the natural consequences of failing to be responsible: 'If they don't do the laundry, they don't have clean clothes.'
她說，這其中更重要的是，兩個孩子學習到了不負責任會有什麼後果：“如果他們不洗衣服，就沒有乾淨的衣服穿了。”