What is the best thing you can do for your child? No, it isn’t sending them to the best preschool or getting them a Chinese tutor. It isn’t take them to Disney or church. You can do it with a child as young as three-years-old.
Did you guess it yet? The best thing you can do for your child is give them chores. A recent survey in the US found that 82% of people said they had chores growing up, but only about 28% of them give chores to their kids.
The Wall Street Journal posted an article, “Why Children Need Chores,” that explains how children with chores do better in life. According to the article, “Children who were given chores built a lasting sense of mastery, responsibility and self-reliance as opposed to those who aren’t.”
“Parents today want their kids spending time on things that can bring them success, but ironically, we’ve stopped doing one thing that’s actually been a proven predictor of success — and that’s household chores,” Richard Rende, a developmental psychologist in Paradise Valley, Arizona, and co-author of the forthcoming book “Raising Can-Do Kids” said.
Why give children as young as three chores? It means they are more likely to have positive relationships with family and friends along with greater career success.
Chores are not something kids get paid for, but something they do as part of a family. In a home there are certain things that must be done: laundry, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning the bathroom, cleaning your own room. There may be extra chores that warrant payments: raking leaves, walking the dog, dusting the baseboards, etc. However children need to learn that being a part of a household means doing your part.
What do you think: chores for kids or just let them be kids?
