Training Wheels: Kids Routines

Every morning, the same reminders. Shoes on. Did you brush your teeth? Where's your backpack? Training Wheels turns the morning into pictures your child can follow on their own — and then, week by week, quietly takes the pictures away. BUILT TO BE OUTGROWN Most routine apps are happy to keep a child tapping. This one has a support ladder that only goes one direction: down. It starts with one big picture at a time and a Done button. Once your child stops needing the prompts, the app offers to fade: the whole routine on one screen, tapped off in any order. Then it shows the steps once and goes dark while they get on with it. Then it's a single question — did you do your morning? Then it stops. A certificate with their name on it, and that routine is theirs. You decide every step. The app only ever suggests. WHAT'S INSIDE • Picture routines for children too young to read • Photos of your own things — their real toothbrush, on their real hook • Morning, after school, bedtime, or build your own • Points and rewards that you set • A parent view showing how many nudges they needed this week, against last week • Put the training wheels back on any time. New school year, a bug going round, a house move — routines wobble, and that's completely normal. MADE BY A SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER I spent a decade as a licensed special education teacher and IEP case manager, using visual supports every single day. The idea behind them is simple, and almost nobody builds it into an app: you give a child the help they need, and then you take it away on purpose. That's the whole app. NOTHING IS COLLECTED No accounts. No analytics. No advertising. No third-party anything. Every routine, photo and point stays on your device, because there is no server for it to go to. Your child's name is typed on your phone and never leaves it. ONE PRICE, ONCE Free gives you all three routines and the first two levels of support — a complete, useful app. $29.99 unlocks the rest of the ladder, photos of your own things, and graduation certificates. One payment, not a subscription. It seemed wrong to charge a family every month for an app whose whole purpose is to stop being needed.