Things a child adds
When a child tells Bobbie about a party or a match, it is added straight away but kept off the calendar until a grown-up confirms it. Details they add later update the same thing, so nothing is duplicated.
Updated 28 September 20261 min read
The short version. Whatever a child tells Bobbie is added at once and waits in your Inbox, off the calendar, until you confirm it. "It's at 4, at the astro pitch" the next day updates the same item rather than making a new one.
What the child sees
"Got it, football on Thursday. I've sent it to your grown-ups to confirm." When they add a detail later, Bobbie updates the thing and says so.
What you see
The item in your Inbox, with the child's name and a marker that says it is waiting for a parent. Open it: the title, the time and place the child gave, and their exact words underneath. Looks right puts it on the calendar. Not needed bins it. Edit it first if the time is wrong.
Until you confirm it, it does not show on the calendar, on Today, in the round-up or in Google. Once confirmed it is an ordinary item.
Updates rather than duplicates
If the child sends more about the same thing on the same day ("actually it's half four", "bring shin pads"), Bobbie edits the thing it already added. It only makes a new item for a genuinely new thing. If the child names it differently each time ("football" then "the match"), Bobbie keeps the fuller name.
What is really happening
A child's additions carry a flag that keeps them out of every view that a grown-up has not checked. Confirming clears the flag. Bobbie's brief for talking to a child tells it to add first and update after, and its edit tool can only touch things that child added and that are still waiting. Money is refused at the tool itself, not just in the brief.
Questions people ask
- Where do I see what my child added?
- In the Inbox, marked as waiting for a parent, with the child's name. Confirm it and it goes on the calendar like anything else; bin it if it is not right.
- My child sent the same thing twice.
- Bobbie merges a second message about the same thing on the same day into the first, keeping the fuller title. Only if the date or the thing is different does a second item appear.
- Can a child add a payment?
- No. If a child says the trip costs £12, Bobbie keeps the trip and leaves the money out, and says so. Payments come from the letter or from a grown-up.