Many (little) hands make light work
We all know that giving kids chores to do around the house on a regular basis can be helpful for busy parents. An extra set of hands or four can mean the difference between dinner arriving on a set table, intact and at a reasonable time, or the smoke alarm shrieking as your roast chicken swiftly goes to a “better place.” More hands = More help!
What you may not be aware of, however, is that having regular responsibilities to which kids are held accountable can mean the difference between an actively engaged student and one who believes that school is a place where educational osmosis miraculously happens each day. Agency and ownership create the perfect environment for the seeds of intrinsic motivation to grow and blossom.
In 2015, The Washington Post published an article which stated that, “long-term studies have shown chores to be ‘a surprisingly influential factor that offered strong prediction of positive mental health in adulthood and professional success.’”
The idea is that kids who have routine chores become more responsible and more hardworking students and adults than their chore-less peers. If we think logically about this, it makes sense. Responsibility and community kinship isn’t a birthright; it must be taught, even cultivated. The article argues that not only should families have chores to be done on a regular basis, but it also supports that these tasks and the effort necessary to complete them should be explained clearly; possibly even practiced first.
A Real-Time Transfer of Skills
So what does this have to do with school and grades and homework you might ask? And what does this have to do with us here at A.I.M Education Strategy? We’re glad you asked! The responsibility children learn from having a regular task to complete each week is a skill that transfers nicely to the responsibilities they will have as students on a regular basis, and in “real life” as they finish school. We are experts at taking these skills (even if not so developed) and using what your student already knows and understands to help them make the leap to using these things to their advantage in their school career and beyond.
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