If that sounds familiar, you re not the only one. Roblox users under 13 grew from 9M in 2019 to 32M in 2024, with revenue jumping from $439M to $2.8B.
It s no coincidence that growth mirrored the COVID lockdowns, when kids were suddenly home all day and parents were working remotely. My daughter would say, All my friends are on Roblox, Daddy! and like most parents still mid-Zoom call, I caved.
Even now, I m still working from home. Our local after-school childcare never reopened, and others nearby filled up fast. So she s home while my wife and I juggle work and parenting and yes, homework comes first before any screen time!
A 6-month study we ran showed hybrid working is the new normal saving families across Ireland & the UK around 7K a year, but adding major afternoon stress. It also found Roblox was the most uninstalled app globally by parents, mostly due to inappropriate content and rising screen time.
elfmonn
When Covid ended, the after-school childcare centre our daughter attended never reopened. Suddenly, like millions of hybrid-working parents around the world, we were juggling Zoom calls and parenting from our home every afternoon. All my dughter wanted was her tablet to play Roblox etc. We realised we weren’t alone — families everywhere were struggling with childcare availability, cost, and time.
So we built Elfmonn — a headset-free AR & VR app that keeps kids happily engaged while parents get things done.
Parents create their own simple daily tasks, and an animated Elf appears on your Smart TV to guide your child through them — tidying their room, practicing piano, finishing art project.. whatever parents need.
When the task’s complete, the Elf returns to deliver a magical reward: he might step into your home via AR to read a classic fairy tale like Hansel & Gretel complete with SFX, or invite your child to explore his world in VR games.
Kids love the Elf’s charm and year-round stories (he only wears his Santa outfit in December 😉). For Christmas, you can even schedule a personalised Santa video call, fully customisable for each child. Just imagine visiting Santa's cottage in VR and completing a jigsaw, or him visiting your home and reading your kids a story for 20 minutes!
Elfmonn brings a little magic — and a lot of sanity — back to hybrid family life.