Devices
One big screen, or four where you actually need them.
A dedicated family display costs $300 to $600, and most of that pays for the software on it.
FocalNest is that software, and it runs in a browser. The same budget buys four second-hand tablets and stands, so you get a screen in four rooms instead of one. No drilling.
A screen you have to walk to is a screen you don't check.
Help only works where the trouble happens. A display in the hall does nothing for the twenty minutes that fall apart in the bathroom. Asking someone to go and check it means asking them to remember the thing it was meant to remind them of.
That's the case for more, smaller screens: the same few lines, close enough to read without deciding to.
Same information on every screen, with settings for each.
Setting up a screen takes about a minute on the device itself. Each one keeps its own settings for:
- When it goes quiet in the evening, and when it wakes up again
- Whether it speaks reminders aloud, or stays silent and just shows them
- How long it waits before it stops showing anyone in particular and goes back to the clock
- Whether it shows the countdown ring to the next thing
Timers are shared. Start ten minutes on the kitchen screen and it counts down in the hallway too, so a child who changes rooms brings the clock along. Sound stays per screen, so the one outside a bedroom can show the countdown silently.
Where to put them.
Put a screen where the day already goes wrong.
By the door
The last thirty seconds before leaving, when what gets forgotten is decided. A screen here answers "how long have I got" without anyone asking.
The bathroom
Mornings and bedtime both run through this room, and both are where a timer started somewhere else keeps mattering.
Wherever homework happens
The three-to-eight window is the hardest part of the day in most households with ADHD in them. A screen already showing the time and the next thing removes one more thing to hold onto.
The kitchen
The room everyone passes through. This is usually the first screen, and often the only one a family ever needs.
Outlets matter more than price. A shared screen stays plugged in, so find the outlets before you pick a tablet. A stand on the counter is usually all it takes.
The agenda is times and titles, with no names on it, so a screen in the hallway doesn't put anyone's day on show.
Start with one.
Four tablets at once is a weekend project, and a half-finished one becomes another thing to feel bad about.
Put one screen in the kitchen, using a tablet you already own, and give it two weeks. If people read it as they pass, you'll know which room gets the second one.
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