building-in-public

• Jun 25, 2026

  The feature I deliberately didn't build (and the psychology that stopped me)

  Should you reward kids for chores they'd happily do anyway? The overjustification effect says rewards can quietly backfire. Here's the game feature I scrapped because of it, and the simple rule it leaves you with.

• Jun 25, 2026

  Why this has to be co-op (and how it beats the one-month problem)

  Almost every reward system for kids works for about a month, then quietly dies. The research points to one fix that lasts, and it isn't more points. It's other people.

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