Life Skills is self-paced: your child works through it on the platform, in their own time.
You Start Here
Your child has to do the thing, not a better version you helped with.
Say yes to logistics, no to the work. Drive them, be the adult in the room, hold the camera if they ask. Don’t cook the dish, tidy the room, or write the pitch.
“Not done yet” is the design working, not your child failing.
Celebrate the attempt out loud. The program pays them for trying the hard version. Match it.
When they’re stuck, ask instead of answer: “What does the challenge say counts as proof?”
Be the audience. Ask to see their planet. Ask them to explain what they made.
Why we ask you not to help
Life Skills has one product: a record of things your child can actually do. Every challenge ends in real proof, and there’s no credit for time spent, which means you’re the only person who can make your child’s record untrue. If you cook the better dish or write the cleaner pitch, the proof goes in, and the record stops meaning anything.
It costs your child twice: they don’t learn the thing, and because placement is by what they’ve demonstrated, a challenge cleared with your hands on it tells the program they’re ready for the next tier, so the next few weeks are harder and less rewarding than they should be. The system only works if the evidence is real.
Hold the bar, and show you believe they can clear it
The most useful idea here is the mentor mindset: keep the bar exactly where it is, and make it obvious you think your child can reach it. Two ways adults slip. The enforcer holds a high bar with no support, and the child reads it as judgment and stops trying. The protector is warm but quietly lowers the bar, and the child reads that as a vote of no confidence. What works is both at once. One sentence worth having ready:
“This is a high bar. I wouldn’t be pushing you on it if I didn’t think you could get there.”
Say it when work comes back “not done yet,” and when they want to quit partway through.
Five things that actually help
Be a consultant, not a manager. Your child picks the challenge, sets the pace, and decides when to submit. Give an opinion when asked, but you don’t get a veto. A child’s sense of control is the best predictor of motivation.
Praise the process, specifically. Instead of “you worked so hard,” try “you tried three ways of recording that before it sounded right.” If they’re working hard and going nowhere, ask “what else could you try?”
Expect multiple drafts, and say so first. Tell your child before their first submission that a second pass is normal. If the first “not yet” is a surprise, it feels like rejection; if it’s expected, it’s just information.
Stop doing things they can do themselves. Many challenges happen in your house. A “reorganize your room” challenge is deleted the moment you tidy it; a “cook the family recipes” challenge is deleted the moment you take the stove. If you’re about to do a step because it’s faster, that step is the challenge.
Let the small failures happen. If your child forgets day nine of a daily observation streak, do nothing. The gap is the lesson, and it’s cheap now.
Four moments, and what to do
“I don’t know what to do next.” Send them to Alphie first. If they’re still stuck, ask: “What does the challenge say counts as proof?” Re-reading the bar is usually the whole answer.
The work came back “not done yet.” Read the note together. Don’t argue with it or apologize for it: “This is a high bar. What’s the one thing they’re asking for?” Then let them fix it.
“This is boring / I want to switch.” Ask whether it’s boring or hard. Kids (and adults) often report the second as the first. If they genuinely picked wrong, switching is allowed. If they hit the difficult middle, that middle is the skill.
They finished something. Ask to see it. Ask how they made it. Ask who else should see it. An audience raises the bar more than any instruction, and you’re the first audience they have.
What we do on our side
This isn’t all on your child: milestones pay on the attempt, the bar is stated up front in plain language, nobody is stranded (Alphie, the Life Skills team, and your child’s coach are all behind it), and placement adjusts if it lands wrong. Your part is smaller than you think, and it’s nothing: hold the bar, be the audience, let them do the work.
Need help? Talk to Alphie in the Parent Portal. If he can’t sort it out, he’ll connect you with our team.