Harvard Research Says Your Kids Will Be More Successful–and Happier–If You Give Them More Chores

Raising kids who will someday be successful and happy, while also building a successful business? Really, really hard.

But there is at least one strategy that might help you raise happy, fulfilled, independent, and successful — in whatever way they eventually define “success” — kids.

Not so oddly enough, it involves chores.

Chores and Success

As part of the landmark 86-year multigenerational Harvard study, researchers evaluated the backgrounds of over 700 “high achievers” and found a strong connection between doing household chores and later professional success.

The effort itself isn’t necessarily the key, though. Or the discipline. Or the willingness to accept the “grind.” While chores can be isolated events with no connection to the larger whole, whenever possible make them part of a larger effort. The key is to give chores that help kids feel a sense of shared responsibility, of feeling a part of a larger “ecosystem.”

For example, don’t just have your kids bring their dishes to the sink after a meal. Make sure they know they’re helping everyone clean up. We eat together, we clean up together. We help each other keep the house clean. We help each other keep the yard maintained.

Making chores a part of a collective effort helps kids feel a greater sense of self-worth. Feeling they are part of a larger, more communal effort helps them be more likely to recognize the needs of people around them, and be more willing to help those people.

Approach chores that way, and as your kids should:

• Tend to be less self-centered. If everything is done for you, why would you think about anyone else’s needs?
• Tend to develop a better work ethic. Discipline, and time management, are rarely innate skills. (My parents, although I certainly didn’t enjoy the process, were extremely consistent in developing mine.)
• Tend to develop greater perseverance. Nor are grit and determination. Perseverance is a muscle that needs to be developed.

Teamwork. Work ethic. Empathy. The willingness to lead, and follow. Doing chores impacts their later ability to handle challenges, manage their time, and work well with others.

That’s a solid formula for success.

And, oddly enough, happiness.

Chores and Happiness

A study published in Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics found that children who start helping with small tasks by the time they are four or five years old have higher levels of self-confidence and self-efficacy. Makes sense. Accomplishments feel good. Receiving praise for accomplishments feels good.

Even if it’s something as small as putting away toys, still: four-year-old me did it, and my parents recognized me for it.

Which might have contributed to a growth mindset. When kids realize effort is the path to success — when they learn that intelligence, ability, and talent can be improved with effort — they’re more likely to persist longer, and bounce back from setbacks.

As the researchers write:

Compared with children who regularly performed chores, children who rarely performed chores had greater odds of scoring in the bottom quintile on self-reported prosocial, academic ability, peer relationship, and life satisfaction scores.

[On the flip side], the frequency of chores in kindergarten was positively associated with a child’s perception of social, academic, and life satisfaction competencies in the third grade, independent of sex, family income, and parent education.

More chores, within reason? Better life and happiness outcomes.

Especially when you make those chores part of a team effort. Whenever possible, Asking your kid to clear the table? That’s fine. Asking your kid to bring the dishes to the sink while you wash them? Now their effort is part of a larger effort, of a larger ecosystem. Now it’s teamwork. Now it’s shared responsibility. Now we’re all in it together.

They aren’t doing chores in isolation; you’re all working together towards a common goal.

Which, since no one every does anything worthwhile on their own, lays a solid foundation for later success.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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