Nagging your kids to do chores actually has a scientific benefit, it’s been confirmed. This means getting your kids to clean up their room and (gasp) do the dishes isn’t just you being the Evil Mom Witch, it’s just you trying to make your kids more responsible, successful adults–according to scientists from Pennsylvania State University and Duke University.
The researchers Pennsylvania State University and Duke University followed 700 children from all over the US between kindergarten and age 25. What they found isn’t surprising, but it totally validates every mom ever whose tried to make her kid help out around the house. The research found a significant connection “between their social skills as kindergartners and their eventual success as adults.”
This study was backed by Julie Lythcott-Haims, the former dean of freshmen at Stanford University and author of “How to Raise an Adult,” who told Tech Insider that having kids pitch around the house teaches them to think outside of themselves (no surprise there):
“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.”
Lythcott-Haims also spoke at a TED Talks Live event about her research, which she based on a Harvard Grant Study, stating:
“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.”
I mean, none of this is all that hard to believe, considering doing things for other people–even if they are your parents–proves that the world doesn’t revolve around you. Plus, you learn all sorts of other skills, like multitasking, organization, kindness, empathy, and how to manage stress levels. So, basically, being like the parents from “The Wonder Years” is #goals.
Check out Lythcott-Haims’s full TED Talk below–and read the rest of Business Insider‘s article that details various studies over the years dealing with how to raise productive and well adjusted kids here. And, remember: now you officially don’t have to feel guilty for nagging.
