06 Sep The Chores of Childhood
If you grew up like me, weekly chores played was a big role in your childhood. You may not even remember a time when you didn’t have a list. I once lived in a house where we had seven rakes in our garage. Clearly, picking up leaves was on everyone’s list including any neighborhood kids we could recruit. In retrospect, I don’t feel like it was a burden or took away from my experience of just being a kid. In fact, I appreciate that I feel like I was able to demonstrate independence at a young age. I believe it helped me transition into adulthood with greater ease.
The Benefits
As an occupational therapist, I understand that children learn and development skills through everyday activities like chores. These skills can include direction following, attention span, strength, coordination, visual perception, fine motor skills, sequencing, and more. Chores are a part of self-care and teach responsibility as well as organization. They also provide exercise for both strength and coordination of the fingers and overall body. They also can be fun when incorporating songs or done socially with a peer or family member especially for children that struggle with executive function.
The Research
Have you ever wondered if there was evidence that making kids do chores could directly lead to a successful life? According to the Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, performing chores in early elementary school was associated with later development of self-competence, prosocial behavior, and self-efficacy. In a 2019 study, Kindergarteners that performed chores had improved math scores by third grade. There was also evidence to show that the frequency of chores in Kindergarten was positively associated with a child’s perception of social, academic and life satisfaction in the third grade.
The Lists
Now that you know there are benefits to assigning chores, you may be wondering what chores are appropriate based on your child’s age. You can reference the chores list for examples keeping in mind that skills can vary by age depending on cultural norms, environment, and expectations of parents.
Finding a balance of play and chores is something that some adults struggle with regularly. Teaching this balance to children is a skill that starts in the earliest of stages. Making chores part of your family’s routine and using a playful approach can help to build lifelong skills. Try incorporating music, timed competitive races, or movement like dancing or shooting paper into baskets as ways to bring joy to chores.
Amy Baez is the Founder of Playapy and Creator of the PALS Handwriting Program. She is a pediatric occupational therapist, speaker, and parent educator with 25 years of experience.
White, Elizabeth M. MD*,†; DeBoer, Mark D. MD, MSc, MCR†,‡; Scharf, Rebecca J. MD, MPH*,†. Associations Between Household Chores and Childhood Self-Competency. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics 40(3):p 176-182, April 2019. | DOI: 10.1097/DBP.0000000000000637