If you want your children to be successful when they grow up, you will want to teach them that doing chores is a must. Taking out the garbage, washing the dishes, vacuuming and other tedious and boring chores might just turn your kid into a hardworking, diligent adult.
According to the findings, young people need two things in life from a young age in order to be happy and successful: love and work ethic.
Who knew?
Jokes aside, let’s see how this interesting experiment works.
Chores Now For A Better Tomorrow
The study followed the lives of 724 high-achievers (including the likes of President Kennedy and Ben Bradlee) in order to see what is the easiest way to become a successful adult, and here’s what Julie Lythcott-Haims, former dean of freshmen at Stanford University, explained during her recent TED talk:
“[The study] found that professional success in life, which is what we want for our kids … comes from having done chores as a kid. The earlier you started, the better. [A] roll-up-your-sleeves- and-pitch-in mindset, a mindset that says, there’s some unpleasant work, someone’s got to do it, it might as well be me … that that’s what gets you ahead in the workplace,” said Julie.
In another interview with Tech Insider, Lythcott-Haims explained why doing the dishes now may help your kids become better people:
“If kids aren’t doing the dishes, it means someone else is doing that for them. And so they’re absolved of not only the work, but of learning that work has to be done and that each one of us must contribute for the betterment of the whole.”
Workspace = Family
The Harvard study suggests that kids who do chores from a young age go on to be adults who are able to easier collaborate with others, while they become more independent, creative and reliable persons as well.
Also, it makes it easier for them to help others in need, as they can easily spot when someone is struggling because they’ve experienced it themselves.
“By making them do chores — taking out the garbage, doing their own laundry — they realize I have to do the work of life in order to be part of life. It’s not just about me and what I need in this moment, but that I’m part of an ecosystem. I’m part of a family. I’m part of a workplace.”
