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CARMEL — If you ask mom and business owner Lisa Berry what life has been like since the dawn of coronavirus here, she'll tell you.
"It's been like one long, never-ending day," Berry said with a laugh.
Berry and her husband are working parents, raising two boys and a girl. Keeping track of work and e-learning schedules, preparing meals and cleaning the house can become mind-boggling.
"The kids naturally, especially now in this day and age with computers and iPads, they gravitate towards wanting to play games all day if you don't give them some structure," Berry said.
An app called BusyKid is helping provide that structure while giving Berry some peace of mind.
"Kids can go earn some money by doing chores around the house," Gregg Murset, CEO of BusyKid, said. "And all a parent has to do is go in, look it over, approve the payday and then we are going to pull the money out of their bank account, bring it into our system, and automatically allocate or split up the money into saving, sharing and spending for the kids."
"The app is wonderful and it is customizable," Berry said. "You can customize it for each child based on the things you want them working towards. So we've got three different kids, three different ages. They're not going to have the same responsibilities."
On the app, Christopher can check off folding his laundry and can expect some allowance money on his BusyKid account. Cici earns her pay by making breakfast — blueberry crepes on this day. Matthew makes some money when he checks off vacuuming from his list.
"I help with stuff with the dogs like feeding them and cleaning them," Matthew said.
Through the app, the kids receive a debit card and they also learn a valuable lesson about money management.
"When they go and they clean up after the dog and they wash the car and they make their bed and do all this stuff for a week and they go and swipe the card at the store or buy something online," Murset said. "All of a sudden they realize, 'Oh, shoot that's how it works. I had to bust it out for a week to buy that toy.'"
A tool helping kids earn cash and helping parents manage their household.
"It's been an amazing blessing because it really has given us the structure that we have needed," Berry said.
