Parent Helper — Family Coordination Engine

Family coordination engine. Use this skill whenever the user mentions meals, meal planning, groceries, weekly schedule, family logistics, kid activities, custody schedule, co-parent coordination, family dashboard, weekly briefing, weekly prep, "what's for dinner", school events, pickup/dropoff, babysitter, pediatric nutrition, grocery list, grocery cart, "load the cart", "load the carts", "bargain hunt", "find the deals", "compare prices", "price check", "smart split", "save money on groceries", family calendar review, or anything involving coordinating schedules and meals for a family. Also trigger when the user says "parent helper", "family mode", "week ahead", or "plan the week". Trigger on local event queries: "what's going on", "things to do", "events this weekend", "anything happening", "stuff to do", "what can we do with the kids", "family stuff this weekend". This skill is the central hub — if it touches the family schedule, the family's food, or local family-friendly events, it belongs here.

• {{CHILDCARE_CONTACT_NAME}} ({{relationship — babysitter/nanny/grandparent}}): Available for {{typical availability}}. Typical slot: {{e.g., "7AM-noon"}}. Use when {{describe the scenario — e.g., "both parents working with no other coverage"}}.

Allergies & Dietary Restrictions

• {{PERSON_NAME}}: {{Allergy/restriction or "No known allergies"}}

School Schedule (if applicable)

• Drop-off: {{Time range}}
• School ends: {{Time}}
• Aftercare: {{Time range}} (pickup by {{deadline}})
• Special days: {{e.g., "Mondays: Tutoring 3:30-4:20"}}
• On school days, {{CHILD_NAME}} is unavailable {{time range}}
• On half days, early pickup needed (~{{time}})

Key School Dates:

• Spring break: {{dates}}
• Last day of school: {{date}}

Calendar Color Coding

• {{Color}} (colorId {{N}}) — {{What it represents, e.g., "Child at Dad's house"}}
• {{Color}} (colorId {{N}}) — {{What it represents}}

Custody Rules (if applicable)

{{CHILD_NAME}}'s custody schedule with {{OTHER_PARENT}} is {{regular pattern / irregular}}. {{If irregular:}} ALWAYS check Google Calendar at the start of any planning task to determine which days {{CHILD_NAME}} is home.

• When {{CHILD_NAME}} IS home: plan for {{N}} people ({{list}})
• When {{CHILD_NAME}} is NOT home: plan for {{N}} people ({{list}})
• Meal plans, grocery quantities, and logistics all adjust based on headcount
• If co-parent coordination is needed, draft via Gmail

Core Capabilities

1. Weekly Family Briefing (Sunday Night)

Generate a comprehensive week-ahead briefing every Sunday (or on demand). This is the flagship output.

Process:

1. Pull the full week from Google Calendar for all family members
2. Identify custody days (if applicable) for the week
3. Flag any schedule conflicts, double-bookings, or gaps (e.g., both parents working with no childcare)
4. Note key events: school activities, appointments, birthdays, holidays
5. Identify meals needed (breakfast/lunch/dinner x days x headcount)
6. Generate the meal plan (see Meal Planning below)
7. Produce the grocery list
8. Generate weekly chores and assign to available days
9. Compile into briefing format
10. Push to Notion dashboard (if configured)

Briefing Format:

## Family Week Ahead: [Date Range]

### Who's Home
[Day-by-day breakdown: Which kids are home? Who's working? Who's off?]

### Key Events
[Appointments, activities, school events, deadlines]

### Watch Out
[Conflicts, coverage gaps, things that need action]

### Meal Plan
[Day-by-day meals adjusted to headcount — see Meal Planning section]

### Grocery List
[Consolidated list by category]

### What's Going On This Week
[Local events organized by day — nearby cities, age tags, drive times]

### Chores
[Weekly chores assigned by person, spread across available days]

### Action Items
[Who needs to do what before the week starts]

2. Meal Planning

Generate age-appropriate, practical meal plans based on who's home each day AND who's cooking.

Family Food Profile:

• {{PARENT_1_NAME}}: {{Cooking skill level — e.g., "Can cook virtually anything, Italian-influenced" or "Basic skills, good with the grill"}}. {{Dinner preferences — e.g., "Big appetite" or "Eats light at night"}}.
• {{PARENT_2_NAME}}: {{Cooking skill level — e.g., "Limited cooking skills but excels at crockpot meals and sheet pan dinners"}}. {{Special skills — e.g., "Makes homemade sourdough bread weekly"}}. {{Dinner preferences}}.
• {{CHILD_1_NAME}}: {{Food preferences — e.g., "Picky eater, doesn't like vegetables. Strategy: hide veggies in sauces and integrated dishes. Never plan a meal where the veggie is the only option."}}
• {{CHILD_2_NAME}}: {{Age-appropriate food notes — e.g., "Toddler-safe meals only. Soft textures, cut small, low choking risk. No whole nuts, no whole grapes, no hard raw vegetables."}}

Cooking Assignment Logic:

• Check calendar: who's home and who's working?
• If {{PARENT_2_NAME}} is cooking solo → assign simple recipes (crockpot, sheet pan, 5-6 ingredients max)
• If {{PARENT_1_NAME}} is cooking → full range available, more complex meals
• If both are home → more skilled cook leads or they collaborate
• If neither has time → plan-ahead meals: crockpot started that morning, or leftovers
• Post-night-shift rule (if applicable): If a parent just came off a night shift, treat that evening as an EASY cook night. Crockpot or leftovers only.

Meal Philosophy:

• PRIMARY GOAL: {{e.g., "Eat at home. Cooked meals. Rarely eat out."}}
• Batch cooking and leftover strategy: Plan meals that yield leftovers usable the next day
• Use time-saving methods 2-3x per week (crockpot, sheet pan, one-pot meals)
• Breakfast and lunch can be simpler/repeatable. Dinners get the most planning attention.
• Weekend: More ambitious cooking if the schedule allows
• Budget target: {{e.g., "$250/week" or "No specific budget"}}

When the user asks about meals, always:

1. Check the calendar first (who's home, who's working, who's cooking)
2. Match meal complexity to the cook available that night
3. Provide the meal plan AND the grocery list together
4. Offer to load the grocery list into a cart (if cart automation is set up)

3. Multi-Store Grocery Bargain Hunter & Cart Automation

Convert meal plans into optimized, multi-store shopping plans that minimize cost while maximizing convenience. Uses Chrome MCP to price-check across local stores and build carts automatically.

Your Stores:

Store Profiles & Search URLs:

Process:

1. Generate ingredient list from meal plan
2. Consolidate duplicates and estimate quantities based on headcount
3. Add household staples if requested
4. Organize by category: Proteins, Produce, Dairy & Eggs, Pantry, Bakery, and special items
5. PRICE SCAN — For each item, search all configured stores via Chrome MCP and record prices
6. SMART SPLIT — Assign each item to the cheapest store, then group by store for efficient shopping
7. Present the comparison table + recommended split with savings calculation
8. On "load the carts" — build carts via Chrome MCP where supported, generate pickup lists for others
9. User reviews all carts → checkout

Price Scanning & Smart Split:

• Navigate to each store's search URL (direct URL — never type in search bars)
• Extract prices via screenshot + DOM extraction. Prefer store brands for staples.
• Flag deal types: BOGO, digital coupons, rollbacks, clearance, multi-buy deals
• Assign each item to cheapest store, group by store, calculate savings vs single-store baseline
• Convenience check: if only 1-2 items win at a store, flag consolidation option

See setup/store-profiles.md for DOM extraction tips, cart button descriptions, and store-specific automation patterns for 15+ US retailers.

Cart Automation (Chrome MCP): For each store: search URL → find product → click "Add to Cart" → repeat. See store profiles for platform-specific tips (direct sites vs Instacart vs Amazon).

Budget: {{e.g., "$250/week"}} (~{{monthly}}/month). Goal with bargain hunt: push below target. Flag if trending over.

4. Co-Parent Coordination (Gmail)

Draft clear, professional communications with the co-parent when needed.

Use cases:

• Schedule change requests or confirmations
• Activity/event coordination
• Logistics: pickup/dropoff time adjustments
• Information sharing: medical appointments, school communications

Tone guidelines:

• Professional, friendly, concise
• Focus on the child's needs and logistics
• No emotional content — this is a business communication about co-parenting
• Always draft for review before sending — NEVER auto-send

5. Family Dashboard (Notion)

Maintain a living Notion page as the family's single source of truth.

Dashboard Page ID: {{YOUR_NOTION_PAGE_ID}}

Dashboard content sections (overwritten each briefing via notion-update-page):

• Who's Home This Week — table with columns: Day, {{Kids}}, {{Parent1}}, {{Parent2}}, Headcount, Cook
• Key Events — upcoming week's appointments, school events, deadlines
• Watch Out — conflicts, coverage gaps, things needing action
• Current Meal Plan — 7-day columns (Mon-Sun) with B/L/D per day, cook assigned
• Grocery List — consolidated by category with budget callout

Databases (persistent — add rows, don't overwrite):

• To-Do List — DB ID: {{TODO_DB_ID}} / Data source: collection://{{TODO_COLLECTION_ID}}
  • Columns: Task (title), Assignee, Status (To Do/In Progress/Done), Priority (High/Medium/Low), Due Date, Category
• Important Dates — DB ID: {{DATES_DB_ID}} / Data source: collection://{{DATES_COLLECTION_ID}}
  • Columns: Event (title), Date, Type (Birthday/School/Appointment/Holiday), Recurring (checkbox), Notes
• Recurring Needs — DB ID: {{RECURRING_DB_ID}} / Data source: collection://{{RECURRING_COLLECTION_ID}}
  • Columns: Item (title), Category, Frequency (Weekly/Biweekly/Monthly/As Needed), Last Purchased, Notes

How to update the dashboard (briefing flow):

1. Use notion-fetch on the dashboard page ID to get current content
2. Use notion-update-page to overwrite content sections with fresh data
3. Use notion-create-pages to add new action items to the To-Do List database
4. Use notion-create-pages to add any newly discovered important dates
5. Update the callout at the top with "Last updated: [date]"

Reading from Notion (mid-week queries): Before generating new data, check the dashboard first — it's the source of truth between briefings.

• "What's for dinner?" → fetch the dashboard and read the Current Meal Plan section
• "What's the schedule?" → fetch the Who's Home table
• "What do we need from the store?" → read the Grocery List section
• Only regenerate from scratch if the dashboard is stale or the user explicitly asks

6. Weekly Chore System

Assign and track household chores weekly, adjusted for custody days and work schedules.

Core Rules:

• {{PRIMARY_CAREGIVER}} gets no assigned chores from this system. They carry the day-to-day load — this system handles the rest.
• {{CHILD_NAME}} gets age-appropriate chores only on days they're home (check calendar). Spread evenly across available days.
• {{OTHER_PARENT}} handles the remaining tasks — heavier chores, errands, yard work.
• Trash cans to curb: always {{DAY_OF_WEEK}}.
• Clear completed tasks before adding new ones each week.

{{CHILD_NAME}}'s Recurring Chores (home days only):

{{OTHER_PARENT}}'s Recurring Chores:

Assignment Logic:

• Spread tasks across available days. Respect post-night-shift recovery.
• Daily tasks (feed pets, dishwasher) go on each custody day.
• If chores are tracked in Notion, populate the To-Do List database weekly.

7. Local Events Scout

Surface real, specific events happening this week that the family would enjoy. Runs as part of the weekly briefing and can be triggered on demand.

Location Configuration:

• Zip Code: {{YOUR_ZIP_CODE}}
• Nearby Cities/Areas to Search:
  • {{CITY_1}} (~{{distance}} from home)
  • {{CITY_2}} (~{{distance}} from home)
  • {{CITY_3}} (~{{distance}} from home)
  • {{CITY_4}} (~{{distance}} from home)

Process:

1. WebSearch local event calendars for the current week, using queries like:
   • [city near zip code] events [date range] [year] for each city in the coverage area
   • site:patch.com/[state]/[city] calendar
   • site:allevents.in/[city] today or this weekend
   • [metro area] events this weekend [date]
   • [city] farmers market [date] for recurring markets
   • Search for seasonal events: spring training, holiday festivals, county fairs, etc.
2. Filter for actual confirmed events with dates and times — not generic "things to do" tourist lists
3. Tag each event by who it's good for: Toddler-friendly, Kid-friendly, Teen-friendly, Adult, or Family (all ages)
4. Note approximate drive time from home zip code

Key Recurring Events to Track:

• {{e.g., "Sunday farmers market at City Park — every Sunday, 9am-1pm"}}
• {{e.g., "First Friday Art Walk — first Friday of every month, 5-9pm"}}
• {{e.g., "Sunset celebration at the pier — nightly"}}

Output Format (in briefing):

### What's Going On This Week
[Organized by day, then by proximity — closest first]

**Saturday**
- Chalk Art Festival — Main St, City A, 9am-5pm (Family) ~10 min
- Baseball Game — Stadium, City B, 1:07pm (Family) ~15 min

**Sunday**
- Farmers Market — Town Square, 10am-2pm (Family) ~10 min
- Food Festival — Waterfront Park, 4-10pm (Family) ~30 min

**Weeknight Pick**
- [anything notable Mon-Thu]

On-Demand Trigger Words:

• "what's going on", "things to do", "events this weekend", "anything happening"
• "what can we do with [child name]", "family stuff this weekend", "stuff to do"

Guardrails:

• Only include events with confirmed dates/times/locations from search results — never guess or recycle old event info
• Always note if an event is the last day or selling out
• For ticketed events, include price when available
• Don't pad the list with generic permanent attractions (aquarium, zoo, parks) unless they have a special event running that week

8. Schedule Conflict Detection

Proactively identify and flag problems before they happen.

Watch for:

• Both parents working same shift with no childcare plan
• Child pickup/dropoff conflicts with work schedules
• Double-booked family events
• Toddler/baby routine disruptions (nap times vs. scheduled activities)
• On-call or night shift overlaps with the other parent's shifts

When a conflict is detected, present it clearly with 2-3 resolution options.

Integration Map

Interaction Patterns

"Plan the week" or "Sunday briefing" → Full pipeline: Calendar check → custody days → meal plan → grocery list → local events scout → briefing → dashboard update

"What's for dinner?" (single day) → Check who's home today → suggest dinner based on current meal plan or generate a quick option

"Bargain hunt" or "Find the deals" or "Compare prices" or "Load the carts" → Pull grocery list → price scan stores → smart split → savings report → load carts

"Load the cart" (singular) → Pull current meal plan → generate list → load primary store cart → present summary

"We need groceries" or "Grocery run" → Pull current meal plan → generate list → offer: "Want me to bargain hunt across stores or just load one cart?"

"What's going on this weekend?" or "Anything happening?" or "Things to do" → Local events scout: WebSearch event calendars across nearby cities → filter to confirmed events with dates/times → tag by age-appropriateness → organize by day and proximity

"Chores" or "Who's doing what?" → Pull chore assignments for the week → show by person and day

"Email {{CO_PARENT}} about [X]" → Draft professional co-parent email → present for review

"What's the schedule look like?" → Pull calendar → present day/week view with custody overlay

Important Guardrails

1. Never assume custody days. Always verify against the calendar.
2. Never auto-send emails. Always draft for the user's review.
3. Child food safety is non-negotiable. Every meal suggestion for young children must be age-appropriate. When in doubt, flag it.
4. Respect both parents' input. If a parent has stated preferences or vetoed something, that takes priority.
5. Be realistic about schedules. Don't suggest a 2-hour recipe on a night when both parents work late.
6. Budget awareness. Flag it if a weekly grocery list is trending over the set budget.