By: Keira Gong

Chores may not be as fun as playing games or watching TV, but what would you do if you found out doing chores made your children smarter? At La Trobe University in Australia, a research team found that doing regular household chores could boost children’s problem-solving skills and academic performance in other, unrelated, situations. In the article by Twinkle Newsroom, it states “[a] recent study has found that children who joined in with tasks around the home showed improved academic performance. Not only that, they had improved problem-solving skills too.”

The study involved more than 200 participants, including adults and guardians of the children involved. These adults were asked the number of chores the children did and which chores they liked and disliked.

The results were varied but interesting; 70% of the girls were found to make their bed, but only 50% of the boys did the same. Although more of the girls made their beds, more boys were found to help tidy up their groceries (74% to be exact), but only 63% of the girls did.

A vast majority (75%) of the girls put away their clothes, while only 62% of the boys did the same. 66% of the boys took out the trash, but only 43% of the girls did the same task.

The children who had joined the experiment were found to have better working memory compared to children without chores when engaged in things like homework. The team found that cooking and gardening are also beneficial to children’s knowledge and brainpower.

The leader of this study, Ms. Deanna Tepper, stated: “children who cook a family meal or weed the garden on a regular basis may be more likely to excel in other aspects of life – like schoolwork or problem-solving.”

Many parents and guardians are happy to have another reason to make their children do the chores, but children might also be fascinated that those chores set them up for a successful life.

Link: https://s3.amazonaws.com/appforest_uf/f1655668673598x335981461651663400/Doing%20Chores%20Could%20Boost%20Kids%E2%80%99%20Brainpower%20-%20Twinkl%20NewsRoom.pdf