September 15, 2026 · 8 min read · By Andrew, creator of ChoreGenius

Why Chores Are Good for Kids: What the Research Actually Says

As a parent, it's easy to think about chores in purely practical terms.

The dishwasher needs to be emptied. The dog needs to be fed. The playroom somehow needs to return to a state where you can actually see the floor.

Having your kids help means there's a little less for you to do.

But there may be a much better reason to give kids chores.

Research suggests that regularly contributing around the house is associated with things like greater self-confidence, stronger social skills, and even some of the executive-function skills kids need to manage everyday life.

That doesn't mean doing the dishes will magically turn your child into a straight-A student. The research isn't nearly that simple.

But it does suggest something I've come to believe as a parent: chores aren't just about getting things done. They're opportunities for kids to practice becoming capable and independent.

Kids Who Do Chores May Develop a Stronger Sense of Competence

One of the most interesting studies I've found is a longitudinal study of 9,971 children followed over several years.

Researchers looked at how frequently children performed chores when they were in kindergarten and then evaluated them again in third grade.

The results were striking.

More frequent participation in chores during kindergarten was associated with higher self-reported social competence, academic competence, peer relationships, and life satisfaction three years later—even after researchers accounted for factors including family income, parental education, and sex.

Children who rarely did chores were also more likely than children who regularly did chores to score in the bottom 20% on measures including prosocial behavior, perceived academic ability, peer relationships, and life satisfaction.

Interestingly, doing chores in kindergarten was also associated with better third-grade math scores.

It's important to understand what this study does not tell us. It doesn't prove that chores caused those outcomes. Families that regularly give their children chores may differ from other families in ways that researchers can't completely account for.

Still, the association is noteworthy—especially because the study followed 9,971 children over time rather than simply taking a snapshot of a small group.

The researchers concluded that doing chores in early elementary school was associated with the later development of self-competence, prosocial behavior, and self-efficacy.

And intuitively, that makes some sense.

Every time a child successfully completes a real task, they're getting a small piece of evidence that says:

I can do things. I can contribute. Other people can depend on me.

Chores May Exercise Executive-Function Skills

Another fascinating area of research involves executive function.

Executive functions are the mental skills we use to manage ourselves and get things done. They include things like working memory, self-control, planning, focusing attention, and switching between tasks.

Harvard's Center on the Developing Child describes these skills as critical to learning and development. Kids aren't simply born with fully developed executive-function skills; they develop them over time through experience and practice.

Think about what happens when a child takes responsibility for a household task.

"Clean the family room" might require them to remember what needs to be done, decide where to start, stay focused despite distractions, move between several smaller tasks, and recognize when the job is actually finished.

That's a lot more cognitive work than it might appear from the outside.

A 2022 study of chores and executive function involving parents of 207 children ages 5 to 13 examined the relationship.

The researchers found that participation in self-care chores and family-care chores significantly predicted better working memory and inhibition, even after controlling for age, gender, and whether the child had a disability.

Interestingly, pet-care chores didn't show the same relationship.

Again, this doesn't establish that chores cause stronger executive function. The researchers themselves called for additional research.

But it's an intriguing finding.

A chore isn't just work. It's also practice at managing a task from beginning to end.

Chores Teach Kids That They're Part of a Family

There's another lesson that's harder to measure but may be just as important.

A family isn't a hotel.

Kids aren't simply customers receiving meals, laundry, transportation, entertainment, and a clean place to live from the adults around them.

They're members of a household.

And being part of a household means contributing to it.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends age-appropriate chores for children beginning when they're young. The AAP notes that helping around the house teaches life skills and cooperation and recommends gradually increasing responsibilities as children get older.

That's one of the reasons I think chores matter even when it would be faster to simply do the job yourself.

And let's be clear: it usually is faster to do it yourself.

Teaching a child how to load a dishwasher can initially create more work, not less. You have to explain it. You have to supervise. You may have to ask them to redo something.

But efficiency isn't really the point.

Eventually, the child who needed you to show them how becomes the kid who can do it without you.

That's independence.

Chores Build Real-World Skills

There's also the most obvious benefit: kids eventually need to know how to take care of themselves.

Laundry.

Cooking.

Cleaning a bathroom.

Vacuuming.

Changing sheets.

Taking care of a pet.

Doing dishes.

These aren't glamorous skills, but adulthood requires them.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends progressively increasing children's household responsibilities as they mature. By ages 8 to 10, for example, its suggested tasks include vacuuming, helping make dinner, walking a pet, putting away laundry, and putting away groceries. By 11 or 12, kids can begin doing things like laundry, changing sheets, cleaning bathrooms, unloading the dishwasher, and preparing simple meals with supervision.

That progression makes sense to me.

You don't suddenly teach independence at 18.

You build it gradually.

But Should Kids Be Rewarded for Chores?

This is where things get more complicated—and where different families will reasonably make different choices.

In our family, we don't reward our kids for everything they're responsible for doing.

Cleaning your own room doesn't earn points.

Neither do good grades.

Those are things we expect from our kids. Taking care of yourself, taking care of your belongings, and putting effort into school are basic responsibilities.

But we make a distinction between personal responsibility and doing additional work that contributes to the household.

That's where our points system comes in.

A kid who decides to tackle a messy shared playroom might earn quite a few points. A smaller household job might earn one or two.

The harder the job, the more points it's worth.

Those points can eventually be exchanged for rewards.

The goal isn't to teach our kids:

"Never do anything unless someone pays you."

It's to teach several different lessons at the same time.

Some things you do because they're your responsibility.

Some things you do because you're part of a family.

And sometimes, taking on additional work allows you to earn something you want.

All three exist in the real world.

Chores Can Also Give Kids More Autonomy

This is one of the unexpected benefits I've seen in my own family.

Before we started using points, buying something at a store usually involved asking:

"Dad, can I get this?"

That puts the entire decision in the parent's hands.

Once my kids started earning points, the conversation changed.

Now they had something they'd earned themselves.

If one of my daughters wanted something and had enough points for it, I'd generally let her buy it, within reason.

Suddenly she had decisions to make.

Do I spend what I've earned now?

Do I save for something bigger?

Is this thing actually worth what it costs me?

Those are small decisions, but they're real decisions.

And the American Academy of Pediatrics guidance on kids and money makes a similar point: giving children opportunities to earn and manage money can shift them away from simply asking "Can I get it?" and toward thinking about priorities, saving, spending, and delayed gratification.

That's a much more valuable lesson than simply getting someone else to vacuum the floor.

The Bigger Goal Isn't a Clean House

When I first started experimenting with a points system for chores, I was trying to solve a pretty mundane parenting problem.

I wanted my kids to help around the house without my wife and me constantly nagging them.

But over time, I've come to see chores differently.

The goal isn't really a cleaner house.

It's raising kids who gradually learn:

I can do difficult things.

I can contribute to something bigger than myself.

I can take responsibility without someone standing over me.

My effort has value.

I can earn something today and choose to save it for tomorrow.

I am capable of taking care of myself and helping take care of others.

The research doesn't prove that assigning your child chores will automatically produce all of those outcomes.

Parenting doesn't work that way.

But the evidence does suggest that chores are associated with several positive aspects of children's development. And organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics continue to recommend age-appropriate household responsibilities as part of growing up.

For me, that's enough reason to think differently about the pile of laundry, the dirty dishes, or that spectacularly messy playroom.

They're not just things that need to get done.

They're opportunities for our kids to learn how to do things for themselves.

And eventually, that's the whole point.

Sources & Further Reading

Associations Between Household Chores and Childhood Self-Competency — White EM, DeBoer MD, Scharf RJ. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 2019.

Executive functions and household chores: Does engagement in chores predict children's cognition? — Tepper DL, Howell TJ, Bennett PC. Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 2022.

Age-Appropriate Chores for Children — American Academy of Pediatrics / HealthyChildren.org

Enhancing and Practicing Executive Function Skills with Children from Infancy to Adolescence — Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University