The Parent Guide
The honor code (the whole system rests on this)
Bee Bucks only teaches the lesson if the Bee Bucks are real, meaning you honor what your kids earn, promptly and predictably.
What "Fun Stuff" means (it's not just candy)
The lowest rung of the ladder is anything fun right now: candy if that's your family's style, but just as easily toys, an arcade trip, a day at the amusement park, or a movie night. You stock the Prize Shelf, so you decide what's on it. Families who'd rather skip sugar stock experiences instead; kids love saving for an outing at least as much as for gummy bears, and the lesson (fun now costs more than growth later) works exactly the same.
Making the Money Tree and Honey Jar real
Right now, dollar values in the vault are a simulation you honor manually. Two easy ways to make them genuinely real:
Money Tree (investing): open a free custodial account (UTMA) at any major brokerage. Fidelity, Schwab, and Vanguard all offer them with no fees, and buy a broad index fund with each payout. The money is legally your child's, invested for real, and someday the app's Money Tree will connect to accounts like these directly.
Honey Jar (saving): a kids' savings account at your bank or credit union works; so does an actual short-term CD; so does a simple envelope where you personally pay the promised interest at maturity. What matters is that the lock and the payout are real.
Fun & Book money: an envelope or jar per kid is perfect. Physical cash they can hold makes the lesson concrete for younger kids.
Allowance (optional, off by default)
If you turn it on, the research-backed pattern is a hybrid: a small base allowance not tied to chores (that's money-management practice), plus ways to earn more through real work. A common starting point is about one Bee Buck per year of age per week. Some families skip allowance entirely and let everything be earned, both work; pick what fits your values and be consistent.
Teaching a simple split (optional)
A rule of thumb many families like: about 15% to the far future (Money Trees), 15% to a rainy day (a Honey Jar), and the rest is theirs to enjoy. Talk it through at the store instead of enforcing it; the habit you're building is "pay your future self first."
Giving has its own spot on the Growth Shelf: the Giving Jar (1 🐝 = $1 given). Set the cause in Grown-up settings, a charity, the animal shelter, or your family's tithing, and deliver the gift together like any other payout. Many families aim for 5-10% of what kids earn; kids who practice giving early tend to handle the rest of their money more thoughtfully too. Bee Bucks doesn't push any split or any cause. You set the pattern that fits your values.
Budgeting for payouts
Every Bee Buck you award can become at most $2 of real value (a Money Tree). Your Settings screen shows how many Bee Bucks you've awarded this month and the most it could add up to in real dollars. You can set a monthly budget there too, and the meter keeps you honest. If a kid goes all-in on Money Trees, that's not a problem, that's the app working; the budget meter just makes sure you're never surprised.
How to price jobs (so you stop making up numbers)
Work backward from a weekly budget, not forward from each chore:
1. Pick a weekly target. A good starting range is 2–4 Bee Bucks per year of age per week (a 6-year-old: roughly 12–25 🐝/week). That's your ceiling for dailies + bounties combined.
2. Price by effort. Daily chores: 1–3 🐝 each. Bounties: a 10-minute job 1–2, a half-hour job 3–5, an hour-plus job 8–12. The Board's edit screen shows your weekly earning potential and what it could add up to in real dollars, and Settings tracks the month.
3. The ×4 trick. Any real price × 4 = its Fun Stuff cost in Bee Bucks. A $35 toy is 140 🐝; a $50 outing is 200 🐝. (Saving goals can now take the dollar price directly and convert for you.)
The things you always provide
This one matters most. Bee Bucks put a price on extras, never on needs, and never on your love. Meals, clothes, school things, hugs, and your time are unconditional and free, always. And some fun should stay free too: sometimes the museum trip or the ice cream run is simply on mom and dad, because families do things together.
Say it out loud when it happens ("this one's our treat") so kids learn there are two kinds of good things: things we earn, and things we're given because we belong. A kid who thinks every joy has a price tag learns anxiety, not thrift. If you notice your child hesitating to enjoy things ("do I have to use my Bee Bucks?"), that's the cue to make a few things visibly, cheerfully free.
And the bright line: Bee Bucks are never a tool for taking away essentials, meals, or affection. If a consequence is needed, a small agreed "oops" in the moment is the whole toolkit.
The entitlement worry (you're right to have it)
Kids shouldn't earn Bee Bucks for everything; some things we do because we're a family. Keep a short list of baseline responsibilities that are never paid, and reserve Bee Bucks for work above that line plus the occasional surprise award when you catch them being great without being asked. Unexpected recognition builds character; contracted payment builds work ethic. Kids need both, and they're different tools.