GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — Tonight on KARE 11 news at 10 p.m., Julie Nelson sits down with Julie Lythcott-Haims, author of "How to Raise an Adult," to talk about the problem of "overparenting."
But "underworked" is another word Lythcott-Haims is using when it comes to kids and chores.
"As it turns out, these days, if we are raising our kids upper or middle class, we are raising them in a childhood that asks them to do no work," Lythcott-Haims says. "We think it's kind and we think, I've got this degree of financial success and my kids can have an easier childhood than maybe I did."
But Lythcott-Haims says we're actually depriving them of developing a healthy work ethic.
"And a work ethic is what they're going to have to have if they're going to survive out in the workplace with a boss who isn't motivated by how cute and charming they are, but a boss who cares about the bottom line."
Lythcott-Haims says doing chores also builds confidence.
"We need our children to do chores from a young age because that's what instills in them the mindset that, 'Hey, I can roll up my sleeves and be useful here. I have to use my energy, my effort, to make the situation around me better. I can contribute.'"
And, she says, don't forget the actual skills kids learn from doing work.
"It's not mean to make your kid help out around the house. You're actually developing in them skills and a sense of their own ability to achieve things. And that's what gets them out into the real world capable of thriving on their own."
Overparented and underworked: Why kids need chores
We may be trying to give our kids a break. But Lythcott-Haims says we're actually depriving them of developing a healthy work ethic.
