How to actually get kids to do their chores (without the nagging)

Nagging feels productive. It isn't. Every reminder you issue is a signal to your kid that the chore isn't really their responsibility — it's yours to chase. The moment you stop reminding, it stops happening.

The fix is making accountability automatic and external. When the reminder comes from the system (or from their phone), you're no longer the bad guy. You're just the parent who set up something sensible.

A few things that actually work: assign ownership clearly (not "someone should vacuum" but "Alex vacuums Saturday mornings"), make completion visible to everyone in the family, and tie it to something that matters to them — like the allowance they check by text. When kids control the loop themselves, nagging becomes optional.

Chored does this over SMS. Kids get a text, they reply done, the family scoreboard updates. No app, no login, no arguing about whether something counts. The system holds the line so you don't have to.