Want your little ones to grow up to be more successful? The answer is simple, make them do chores.
Let's face it, nobody wants to do them even us adults but scientists say doing chores is beneficial, especially for children as young as three and four.
In a recent TED Talk, the former Dean of Freshman at Stanford University and author of How To Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims said, "If kids aren't doing the dishes, it means someone else is doing it for them and so they've absolved of not only the work but of learning that work has to be done and that each of us must contribute for the betterment of the whole."
Based on scientific research from a Harvard Grant Study, the longest longitudinal study to date, she went on to say that children who grow up doing chores become better workers having gained skills from working independently and by working as a team while also being more likely to be more empathetic towards others.
By completing simple chores, children are contributing to family life, making them feel both competent and responsible - even if they don't like the task at hand, once they complete it they get an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction.
And according to the 80-year-old Harvard study which also looks at other topics including mental health and ageing, the study shows that the earlier they start doing chores, the better.
Based on the experiences of 724 high-achievers who took part in the study, it was found that professional success in life all stemmed from the chores they did as a child.
"When young people have been expected to roll up their sleeves and pitch in, and to ask how they can contribute to the household, it leads to a mindset of pitching in in other settings, such as the workplace," Lythcott-Haims said.
Not giving kids chores, she added, "deprives them of the satisfaction of applying their effort to a task and accomplishing it."
The study proved children who do age-appropriate chores learn skills that they can use in their adult lives such as preparing simple meals, doing the laundry, keeping a garden, general house maintenance as well as cleaning and organising.
So basically, you can now use that as an excuse to offload some of the general household chores amongst your little humans to encourage them not just to be better citizens but to enable them to become more independent adults by simply contributing to their family.
After all, chores teach them important life-long skills such as discipline, organisation and good work ethic.
