FAQ

Consequence wheel FAQ

Short answer

This consequence wheel FAQ answers how a family wheel works: who writes the slices, whether every slice must be equally likely, what to do with a landing you dislike, and how this spinner differs from a futures wheel. Consequence wheel questions about price, privacy, and the app are on the main FAQ.

Read the short answer, then the question that matches your stuck point. If you have not built a list yet, start with how to introduce the wheel. If you are deciding whether to trust a spin at all, read why a random picker can be fair.

The site FAQ covers the free tool itself: what is stored in the browser, how an amount spin works, and the app waitlist. This page stays with the idea.

Four questions that come up before a family is ready to spin.

Spin only what you already agreed to.

Use the free wheel

Before you spin

Write the list when you are calm. Include the child’s ideas, then remove anything you will not enforce. Put a review date on it. Do one practice spin with no stakes so everyone sees that the landing stands.

If the adults do not share the list, you are not ready. Show the other caregiver the slices first. A wheel cannot reconcile two different households’ rules in the ten seconds after it stops.

After it lands

Say the result once. Do it. Say when it is over. Skip the speech that tries to make the landing wiser than the slice you wrote. If the landing is something you cannot do, the mistake was leaving that slice on. Finish this round if you can do so decently, then remove the slice before the next spin.

A second spin is for an amount you already ranged, or it is a practice round. It is not a way to shop.

Questions that belong somewhere else

“What do I do about one particular behavior?” belongs on the behavior guides, which you still edit. “What should a given age hear?” belongs on the age guides. This FAQ will not invent those answers.

“How do I cut a plate?” belongs on how to make a consequence wheel. “Is this too playful?” belongs on gamifying consequences.

Questions people ask

Who writes the slices on a consequence wheel?

The child can propose. The adults decide what stays. Both caregivers should be willing to enforce every survivor. A slice one adult will secretly cancel is a slice you should cross out now.

Do the slices have to be equally likely?

Only if you want an equal chance. Wider slices land more often. That is ordinary probability, the kind math class teaches with spinners. Say it out loud if your slices are unequal, or cut them even.

What if we hate the landing?

If it was on the wheel, do it, unless safety showed up in a way you did not foresee. Then fix the list on a calm day. Spinning again because you are disappointed teaches the child that the wheel is theater.

Is this the same as a futures wheel or a classroom consequences wheel?

No. Jerome Glenn’s futures wheel, from 1971, is a diagram of ripple effects. Many classrooms still draw that mind map and call it a consequences wheel. Nothing spins. The tool on this site picks one option from a list.

Can siblings share one wheel?

They can share a house rule. They often need different slices. Do not spin to decide which child is at fault. The sibling page walks through shared rules and separate lists.

Where are the product answers?

The main FAQ covers price, what stays in this browser, amount spins, and the app waitlist. This page is the method.