A study done years ago on chores followed 500 boys for 50 years. The study found, without exception, that the kids with the most chores were the happiest and most successful adults and the kids with little or no chores, without exception, were the most unhappy and unsuccessful adults. Giving your child a consistent set of chores teaches them responsibility and a sense of pride and shows them that they are an important part of the family unit.
I dreamed I stood in a studio
And watched two sculptors there.
The clay they used was a young child's mind,
And they fashioned it with care.
One was a teacher; the tools he used
were books and music and art;
One a parent with a guiding hand
And a gentle, loving heart.
Day after day the teacher toiled
With touch that was deft and sure,
While the parent labored by his side
And polished and smoothed it over.
And when at last their work was done,
They were proud of what they had wrought.
For the thing they had molded into the child
Could neither be sold nor bought.
And each agreed he would have failed
If he worked alone
For behind the parent stood the school
And behind the teacher, the home.
From: As the Twig is Bent