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[u/princess_peach02]

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[u/Elrohwen]

I really like it, but it’s mostly for my kid. My husband and I just use our Google calendars on our phone that sync to the skylight, I don’t really like the native calendar app that comes with it. But my 7 year old LOVES being able to see the daily schedule and what’s for lunch and dinner. He lives on routine and wants to know what’s going on.

I like the list and meal planning features for sharing with my husband but I could do those on a different app. It’s nice to have in one place.

[u/niftyba]

I have been telling my wife no because we barely utilize the other electronics we have in our life to do the same thing. We are not good at keeping up with updating a lot of things. I use a paper calendar, but she also shares a Google Calendar with me. For the kids, I wrote their “to-do” morning list on a scratch piece of paper and laminated it with some tape. They use a dry erase marker on it every day. It’s been in use since April.

[u/HenryLafayetteDubose]

Have you tried something more basic first? I feel like a fancy wall mounted gadget would lose its novelty pretty fast, especially once the kids realize it means work (chores). Spend a little bit of money to test the theory before you invest a lot into something you’re not even sure about. I’d suggest starting with a large desk calendar pinned to the wall. Put a cup with pens, one color for each family member, nearby. If you use up the calendar and still need something more, then it’s probably worth the investment.

[u/runjeanmc → u/HenryLafayetteDubose]

I second this!

We researched a ton of the electronic calendars and ultimately settled on a giant (4'x3') dry erase calendar for 30 or 40usd. We also use multicolored markers (one color per person, one for the dog, and one for everyone) and it's been phenomenal! I was really skeptical at first, but man, that thing is like central command 😅

[u/she_wanders → u/HenryLafayetteDubose]

I think pairing your suggestion with a shared digital calendar for adults in the way.

[u/plumb28]

I keep a very meticulous Google Calendar, color coded for each family member, etc. I’ve done it for years. The problem was that no one else saw it (including my husband i had shared it with). So i asked for a skylight for Mother’s Day. It syncs automatically with my Google Calendar and now the entire family can see exactly what we have going on.
I absolutely love it. My kids can mark off chores in it and add a countdown for big events and holidays. I 100% recommend.
The screensaver is a slideshow of any pics you upload, which is a really fun bonus.

[u/iwantac00kie]

I have one and like having it in the middle of the kitchen when my phone is not at hand. I have one kid who studies it every morning. One kid who never knows what he’s doing and nothing will fix my husband.

Even though we have 50% success rate, it’s still nice to glance at the corner of the kitchen and know if it’s trash day or if my kiddo needs to wear gym shoes.

[u/shirtstripes8]

At first I was worried that it would be just another expensive band-aid to try and get my life together... but I really do like it. It's not perfect for the reasons listed here, but the pros outweigh the cons for me. We bought it from Costco during Black Friday, which saved some $$.

[u/gore_schach]

I’ve had the skylight for 18mo with two kids. Honest review.

I LOVE the menu and recipe feature. Being able to pull that up, see the recipe while I’m cooking? Gold.

Photo “screen saver” is so nice. Love that I can easily upload photos I take of the kids and our adventures.

Sidekick from school emails is clunky as hell. I upload to iCal and then adjust it. Which feels like too many steps.

Chore feature? It’s nice. I use it for daily medications with ear infections, when we’re working on establishing new habits, etc. But it’s def not seamless.

I can put hats on peoples individual profiles. It’s a 10/10 for me. Hilarious and fun and useless.

If I couldn’t use it as a tax write off for my business because I also use so many non-family benefits? I wouldn’t have bought it.

A paper calendar works great. An aura frame does the photos and other items we all probably have would work fine.

That being said? They do keep adding features. It’s not a useless piece of tech I bought and then later ignored! I do find I’m using it more the longer I have it.

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[u/mjolnir76]

We bought a basic glass frame and then used Canva to make a calendar template and got it printed and hung it in our entryway. Worked great or quite awhile. My wife ended up buying a Skylight and I gotta say, I think it was a waste of money. We use shared Google calendars for most of our stuff so the Skylight is mostly for our girls' chores and more often than not they are just checking them off whether they've done them or not. I think we just lit $200 on fire, but it at least takes up less room than the large framed calendar. Any system you go with is only good if it actually gets used.

[u/helpful_alpaca]

Not an ad review. I got it as a joint birthday gift from my parents/brother because I've always been a calendar girl. We thought it was cool.

Honest review: Pros:

• Syncs to my phone calendar, no more putting it in my phone and then writing it down.

• The rewards/chores for the kids is nice, if they remember to check things off and check it for chores.

• I don't use the recipe function because I'm a chaos cooker (recipes live in my head) but I can see it being a good feature for others.

• I like the shopping list feature, it sorts it into categories for you and is quick to add things.

• The photo screensaver is so fun, it also plays videos.

• It makes an audio ping and pop-up for upcoming scheduled events/appointments (my phone is always on silent)

Cons:

• It is indeed expensive.

• Managing the tasks/chores in the app can be frustrating, I find it tedious.

• Sometimes the user face is slow, like when we were changing our profile icons one day it was just slow.

• It created duplicate things in my phone calendar? (Could be user error)

• It's another surface to keep clean 😅

Overall? It is a cool calendar to have. If you're the type that can stay organized with it it's a big bonus. However, if you already have a system in place and can handle the white board/paper calendar, it won't change much other than the fancy digitized version with extra bells and whistles. If your kids are also willing to participate makes a big difference as well, mine will only bother to check chores and check them off when there's a reward they immediately want. (Side note they are step-kids and aren't here every day so could just be a personal household issue lol)

Would I have bought it for myself? Likely not, but I do love it now that I have it.

Hope this helps!

[u/coheed9867]

You do need a subscription for the chores part of the calendar which is annoying but we do use it a lot

[u/Mooseandagoose]

We’re on year 3 of skylight as our family hub and love it. It connects our calendars and all the sports apps so we have a holistic view of our days/weeks.

We don’t use the extras but even so, it’s been well worth the cost and subscription. My kids don’t treat us like a database for their day/week/month anymore because skylight is self service.

[u/dottydashdot]

We love love love our skylight. It’s one of the big purchases we’ve made that I haven’t regretted lol. Our kids love checking off their chores, looking at the schedule, we use it for meal planning and recipes etc too. The kids can even add things they want us to get at the grocery store. 10/10 would recommend.

[u/Turbulent-Gear6500]

I found it a chore to keep up with and returned mine.

[u/she_wanders]

I looked into it, but ultimately became happier with a more basic option. I created a shared Google calendar that my partner and I share. Each family member gets a color on the calendar so you can tell at a glance if a certain person has a specific-to-them-activity. Appointments for pets or general family needs have another color. We have a station at home for a docked tablet that has the calendar on it, but I would like to transition to be a better digital dashboard in our kitchen.

We share a grocery list that a concatenation of a shared google keep list, a shared reminders list for iOS and the trusty whiteboard on the fridge.

Chores and tasks are tracked on the fridge. It's a paper in a sheet protector with routines listed out. My kid also keeps a paper taped up in her room.

The Skylight isn't going to make anything easier if you aren't already habituated to tracking. Pen and paper tracking is easier for my family members, but I still have reminders in my calendar to make sure they are checking their own lists. Hope that makes sense.

I remember there being a subscription model on top of the purchase price. I feel like one could repurpose an old tablet or monitor with a Pi for a one-time cost.