I write this feeling more than a little excitement – it’s Golden Service Awards day and I’m heading to the Hilton Hotel in London’s Park Lane to join several hundred others from our industry to learn which companies, teams and individuals have particularly excelled this year and help celebrate their achievements. I was explaining to my toddler granddaughter yesterday, that this was why I couldn’t drop her at pre-school this morning. She’s familiar with Awards and how they work thanks to a Peppa Pig story in which there’s a baking contest, and when I said that this one was for cleaners who do the best work, her little face lit up, as she, herself, loves helping ‘clean up’. She can vacuum (of sorts) and is great at wiping up spillages and washing things that are dirty, so we’ve got her off to a good start. But what I’m most proud of is that she knows it takes effort, and that those who do make the effort, should be acknowledged. Often she’s the first one who thanks any cleaners we encounter when we’re out and about and I love that.

 

I’ve never been one to reward family members financially for doing ‘chores’. My view’s always been that we’re a team, and that for us to function as we should, every team member should play their part. I was surprised to learn recently of a 75yr-old study – supposedly carried out by Harvard researchers, which tracked thousands of children from childhood into their 70s and 80s, to see what predicted success, happiness, health and wellbeing. What they are said to have discovered is that one of the best predictors of success was whether the children had done household chores or not. Apparently, those who did chores starting aged three or four achieved significantly higher rates of career success, better relationships, higher income, and greater overall life satisfaction. According to some reports on the study, doing chores builds the part of the brain responsible for planning, decision-making, delayed gratification, and executive function. Even a small task such as taking out the rubbish, strengthens the neural pathways associated with responsibility and achievement. Thus it makes sense to give them chores; to let them struggle and not take over just to make life easier for them.

 

I was going to post a link, but I can’t find the study anywhere… not in almost three hours of searching the Net (and no, I don’t use AI!). I’m clearly one of many who are searching, too. Some people have concluded that the study never actually took place. Hoax or not, I’m hooked on the idea – along with the knowledge that getting our little ones cleaning from a young age encourages them to take responsibility and teaches them that a clean environment takes work, time, commitment and continued maintenance!