Penalties¶

The Penalties card lets parents apply named point deductions to children for unwanted behaviour — consistently and in one tap.

The Penalties tab The Penalties card

Unlike the remove_points service which requires entering an amount each time, penalties are named reusable definitions (e.g. "Not going to bed — 10 Stars") that can be applied instantly without guessing an amount.

Mandatory chore late penalties¶

A separate kind of penalty comes from mandatory chores. A chore marked mandatory can carry a late penalty that applies if it isn't completed in time. TaskMate never deducts these points automatically — the missed chore is raised as a review item on the Approvals Card, and the parent applies the penalty manually (or postpones/dismisses it). See Mandatory Chores for the full workflow.

Make it right (v7.0.0)¶

A penalty can name a make-it-right chore: when the penalty is applied, the child can do that chore within a set number of days and earn back some or all of the points. Losing points teaches less than putting right whatever went wrong ("tidy the mess you made").

Set it in the penalty editor in the admin panel, under Make it right:

Field	Default	Description
Chore to earn it back	None — no way back	The chore that repairs things. It is open to the child even on days it isn't normally due, until the offer runs out
Points back (%)	`100`	How much of the deducted points comes back, 1–100
Days to do it	`1`	1 = today only; up to 7

The child card shows the offer ("Do “Tidy the playroom” by Friday to earn back 10"). The points come back when the chore is approved (or straight away if it needs no approval), and are taken back again if that chore is undone or rejected. These fields are set in the admin panel only; the add_penalty / update_penalty services don't take them. See Make-It-Right Penalties.

Penalties Card¶

type: custom:taskmate-penalties-card
entity: sensor.taskmate_overview
title: Penalties

Config options:

Option	Default	Description
`entity`	required	`sensor.taskmate_overview`
`title`	`Penalties`	Card header title

Using the Card¶

Applying a Penalty¶

If there are multiple children, tap the child's name tab at the top to select who to apply the penalty to
Each penalty row shows its icon, name, description, and point cost
Tap Apply — points are deducted immediately and a toast confirms the action
The bottom of the card shows which child is currently selected

Penalties respect assigned_to — if a penalty is assigned to specific children, it only appears for those children's tabs.

Who can apply one. Home Assistant admins and TaskMate parents see Apply; only admins see the manage controls, and anyone else sees the list read-only. Parents could not apply penalties before v5.0.4.

Managing Penalties (Edit Mode)¶

Tap the pencil icon (top right) to enter edit mode:

Add — tap New Penalty to open an inline form with name, points, description, and icon fields
Edit — tap the edit icon on any penalty row to edit it inline
Delete — tap the trash icon to remove a penalty definition

Changes are saved to the integration immediately — no separate save step.

Penalty Fields¶

Field	Required	Default	Description
`name`	Yes	—	Display name shown on the card
`points`	Yes	—	Points to deduct when applied
`description`	No	—	Optional explanation shown below the name
`icon`	No	`mdi:alert-circle-outline`	MDI icon slug
`assigned_to`	No	All children	List of child IDs — leave empty to show for all children
`redemption_chore_id`	No	none	(v7.0.0, panel only) The make-it-right chore
`redemption_percent`	No	`100`	(v7.0.0, panel only) Percent of the penalty given back, 1–100
`redemption_days`	No	`1`	(v7.0.0, panel only) Days the child has to do it, 1–7

Services¶

Penalties can also be managed and applied from automations, scripts, or Developer Tools.

`taskmate.add_penalty`¶

Create a new penalty definition.

Parameter	Required	Description
`name`	Yes	Display name
`points`	Yes	Points to deduct when applied
`description`	No	Optional explanation
`icon`	No	MDI icon slug (e.g. `mdi:bed-clock`)

service: taskmate.add_penalty
data:
  name: "Not going to bed"
  points: 10
  description: "Refused bedtime after two warnings"
  icon: mdi:bed-clock

`taskmate.update_penalty`¶

Update an existing penalty. Only provided fields are changed.

Parameter	Required	Description
`penalty_id`	Yes	ID of the penalty to update
`name`	No	New name
`points`	No	New point value
`description`	No	New description
`icon`	No	New MDI icon

service: taskmate.update_penalty
data:
  penalty_id: abc12345
  points: 15

`taskmate.remove_penalty`¶

Delete a penalty definition.

Parameter	Required	Description
`penalty_id`	Yes	ID of the penalty to delete

service: taskmate.remove_penalty
data:
  penalty_id: abc12345

`taskmate.apply_penalty`¶

Apply a penalty to a child. Points are deducted immediately and logged in the activity feed.

Parameter	Required	Description
`penalty_id`	Yes	ID of the penalty to apply
`child_id`	Yes	ID of the child to deduct from

service: taskmate.apply_penalty
data:
  penalty_id: abc12345
  child_id: a8c8376a

Finding Penalty IDs¶

Penalty IDs are in sensor.taskmate_overview under the penalties attribute:

Go to Developer Tools → States
Find sensor.taskmate_overview
Expand the attributes and look for penalties
Each entry has an id field — 8-character alphanumeric string

Activity Log¶

Every penalty application appears in the Activity Card with: - Icon: red shield - Label: Penalty name - Points: shown as a negative value (e.g. −10)

Automation Example¶

Apply a penalty automatically — for example when a motion sensor triggers after bedtime:

automation:
  trigger:
    platform: state
    entity_id: binary_sensor.bedroom_door
    to: "on"
  condition:
    condition: time
    after: "21:00:00"
  action:
    service: taskmate.apply_penalty
    data:
      penalty_id: abc12345
      child_id: a8c8376a

Tips¶

Keep penalties consistent — named penalties mean the same behaviour always costs the same, which feels fairer to kids
Use descriptions — add context like "After three warnings" so there's no ambiguity about when the penalty applies
Offer a way back — a make-it-right chore turns a penalty into something the child can fix
Use assigned_to — if you have children of different ages, assign age-appropriate penalties to specific children rather than showing all penalties for all children