The Carvalho family started with a paper chart. Four names, seven boxes, a pen on a string. The pen went missing in week two, so Inés moved the chart into Dotty and put an old tablet on the fridge door.
One row, four people
They share a single habit: everyone reads for ten minutes before bed. The dot fills only when all four have tapped. The children check on their parents more strictly than the other way round.
My daughter will not go to sleep until she has seen me tap my dot. I read more now than I have in ten years.
When someone forgets
An empty dot used to start an argument. Now the rule is simple. Whoever missed chooses the book for the next evening and nobody mentions it again.
What they changed after a month
They added a rest day for Fridays, when dinner runs late and nobody reads. The row has been full for six weeks, apart from one yellow dot every Friday.
Written by Tove Halvorsen
Product designer at Dotty
Keep reading
Product
14 August 2026
4 min read
What we left out of Dotty, and why
No scores, no leaderboards, no streak freezes for sale. A short list of things we said no to.
Habits
30 July 2026
5 min read
Evening habits need a different reminder
A nudge at 8pm lands differently from one at 8am. Notes from 2,000 reminder texts.
Habits
8 October 2026
4 min read
Why seven dots beat a 30 day challenge
A week is short enough to finish and long enough to notice. Here is how we chose the row.