This chunky little tablet got my kid to clean up his toys

Never underestimate the power that a cheap tablet holds over a kid under six. The Skylight Buddy is a device with one job: to be a cute little guy that helps your kid track routines and chores. It’s $139.99, plus an optional subscription. And to my surprise, even though it offers a pretty limited set of features without the $39-per-year “Plus” features, it actually worked. Skylight recommends the Buddy for kids aged four up to 10. An adult has to set it up, naturally, which you do inside of the Skylight app. From there, you make a profile for your kid and assign it to the Buddy, which is strictly one-kid-per-device. That might be a non-starter for bigger families, but in my household of one kiddo it worked fine. In the app you can set up recurring or one-off tasks and group them into routines for the morning, afternoon, and evening. They appear on the Buddy’s screen as big cards with emoji labels, so it’s a viable option for a kid like mine who isn’t reading yet. $140 The Good Basic functions available without subscription Well-considered, kid-centric design Adorable The Bad A few appealing features require a subscription Ability to change routines is somewhat limited $140 feels steep for basic features The Buddy has a few other features available without a subscription, like the ability to use it as a night light and set a wake-up alarm. …