School ends hours before work does
Created by the school day: 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and all summer.
Where Scarce time meets Childhood. There are a fixed number of hours and they cannot be stored. Almost every convenience business is a time trade: delivery, childcare, cleaning, automation. Time scarcity is felt hardest where two obligations overlap — a parent who must both earn and supervise, a fifty-year-old wit…
6 frictions
Feed a child who eats constantly and refuses most of it
Three meals plus snacks, negotiated, for a decade.
2 solutions built for it
Children catch everything and cannot stay home alone
Every infection is a missed workday.
3 solutions built for it
Pediatric care, Backup and sick-child care and Children's over-the-counter medicine.
The family must sometimes eat without cooking
Restaurants sized, priced, and menu'd for children.
2 solutions built for it
Family and casual-dining restaurants and Fast food and ready meals.
The child must play, and cannot be left to do it alone
Play is developmental, unavoidable, and requires supervision, space, and equipment.
5 solutions built for it
Toys, Youth sports leagues, Children's television and video, Video games and Public playgrounds and parks.
Practices, games, and gear consume the family calendar and budget
Created by organised sport: weekends belong to the league.