Ownership motivates children. Children wanted to participate in setting objectives, not simply complete tasks assigned by adults.
Kids Tasks
Designing a family goal-setting system inside Alfa Bank Kids
Overview
Kids Tasks is a feature inside Alfa Bank Kids that helps families build habits, responsibility, and financial literacy through shared goals and rewards.
The challenge was not to create another “do something — get money” system. We wanted parents to become mentors rather than controllers, while giving children more autonomy and ownership over their actions.
The Problem
Most task systems for children follow a simple pattern:
Parent creates a task → Child completes it → Child receives a reward. While this model works, it leaves little room for initiative. Children become executors of someone else’s goals rather than active participants in the process.
Through research with parents and children, we found that motivation was not driven by rewards alone. Children wanted more independence, while parents wanted a way to encourage responsibility without turning every family interaction into a financial transaction.
What happens if children are allowed to participate in setting their own goals?
Research highlights
Parents value growth over rewards. They were interested in building responsibility, habits, and independence rather than turning every interaction into a transaction.
Freedom needs guidance. Families needed examples and inspiration before they felt comfortable creating tasks on their own.
Core Hypothesis
If children can create their own tasks and negotiate rewards with their parents, engagement will be higher than in a traditional parent-driven task system.
Instead of positioning children as performers, we wanted to make them co-authors of the process.
Solution
We designed a collaborative task system where both parents and children could initiate new tasks.
Children could:
- Create their own goals
- Define the reward
- Send the task for approval
Parents retained control by reviewing and approving every task before activation. This created a balance between autonomy and supervision while preserving trust inside the family.
Results
The outcome was significantly different from our initial expectations.
85.1% of all tasks were created by children.
We originally expected child-created tasks to become a useful secondary scenario. Instead, they became the dominant behavior inside the product.
The results suggested that children were not only interested in completing goals but also wanted to participate in defining them.
Experiment Hypotheses
Experiment #1 — Non-Monetary Rewards
Hypothesis
Not every task should be tied to money. Some parents want to encourage behavior through experiences, privileges, trust, and shared activities rather than direct payments.
Solution
We introduced two reward types: monetary and custom rewards. Families could agree on anything from extra screen time and sleepovers to trips, gaming-center visits, or family activities.
Results
- 4.3% of tasks used non-monetary rewards
- 12.4% completion rate
- 10.7% overall completion rate
Takeaway
While not a mainstream scenario, non-monetary rewards proved to be a meaningful alternative for families who preferred agreements over transactions.
Experiment #2 — Task Ideas
Hypothesis
A blank state creates friction. Many families need inspiration before creating their first task. We also wanted task ideas to help children discover financial concepts and learn how to use their banking app.
Solution
We introduced editable templates around savings, cashback, spending habits, and personal financial goals. They worked as both onboarding guidance and educational prompts.
Results
≈40% of all created tasks originated from Task Ideas.
The feature reduced the friction of creating the first task while preserving users’ freedom to customize goals and rewards.
Experiment #3 — Monthly Achievements
Hypothesis
Recognizing progress can be as motivating as rewards. A monthly achievements experience could help children reflect on their accomplishments and give them something fun and shareable.
Solution
Achievement characters reflected completed tasks, earned rewards, and engagement. Every child received a character — even a sleeping dinosaur for zero activity — so the experience celebrated participation rather than judged performance.
Takeaway
Personalized characters made monthly statistics emotionally meaningful, including for children with little or no activity.
