New App Lets Parents Charge Their Kids For Lifts In The Form Of Household Chores

With summer vacation on the horizon, kids are set to have a lot more free time on their hands for the next few weeks. And if you're a parent, that'll almost certainly mean having to act as a chauffeur for your kids as you indulge their desire for an active social life.

But just because kids aren't in a position to pay their parents for giving them lifts, that doesn't mean this invaluable service shouldn't cost them something. Well, courtesy of Škoda, teens might have to start coughing up chores as opposed to money if they want their parents to continue taking them from A to B.

On Tuesday, Škoda launched a free app that gives parents the chance to charge for lifts in exchange for household chores.

Officially called the 'Parent Taxi', the app essentially acts as a taximeter by keeping track of the distance parents have traveled for their kids. This is then converted into useful jobs their kids are expected to around the house in lieu of payment.

Parent Taxi tracks the car journey via GPS, and parents can set for themselves the chores (including washing the car, washing the dishes or feeding a pet) that equate to a specific number of miles.

Once a journey is complete, the app calculates the number of miles travelled before indicating which chore the child has to do. The app also allows users to view past journeys and their corresponding chores, access chore receipts and track the total amount of journeys.

Credit: Pexels

Another feature gives parents the ability to shame their children if they fail to complete the chores they were required to do as part of their 'payment'. Yep, parents can share a post detailing the uncompleted task directly to the social media pages of their offspring.

In order to test the app, Škoda asked parenting blogger Jo Middleton and her teenage daughter Belle to try it out.

Credit: Pexels

After completing a few journeys using Parent Taxi, Middleton said:

"This is the app I've been waiting for! It's true that kids generally have a better social life than adults and as a result that can mean a lot of car journeys each week. Although I love encouraging them to get out and do more, I think it's a great idea to swap miles for some help around the house in return."

The app is free to download now from the App Store and Google Play Store.