Toddlers are always thought of as the people pleasers and their teen counterparts as the surly loner types. Not so says a new study from researchers at three American universities.
The small study finds teens may actually WANT to help their families.
Researchers at the University of Rochester, the University of Missouri-Columbia, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, presented one hundred twenty kids in grades seven through ten and their parents with stories in which teens or parents asked for help. The study subjects were asked to determine whether the protaganist in the stories should provide the help or not, and decide whether it was OK to opt for personal desires instead.
The results indicate that parents believe kids are more selfish while the kids are more likely to put personal desires aside to offer their assistance. No wonder teens and parents collide!
The results were most interesting in light of the comments on my recent post about the benefits to having a big family in economic times. Based on the experiences of larger families I know, I suggested that having a large age gap provides for built-in babysitters when parents are forced to get a second job or a non-working parent finds they must take a job to make ends meet.
Not surprisingly, the responses ranged - some parents refuse to make their kids babysit, others felt it was the responsibility of teens to kick in. As a much older sister who did almost all of the babysitting, I concur that it's irresponsible for parents to put their own burdens squarely on the shoulders of their older kids. Before giving birth, parents need to look at their situation and determine how to ensure all of their kids get equal advantages - the new baby is the responsibility of his or her parents, not his or her siblings.
But babysitting is a chore. And kids have responsibilities to do chores as part of the family unit. If that's the chore parents decide to assign, cutting out other chores to ensure teens still have the ability to enjoy childhood and take advantage of after-school activities at school or other pursuits, parents should take heed of this study. It shows they're on the right track.
This study seems to further evidence that kids - no matter their age - want to be part of the family structure. They crave structure, and with that comes some sort of responsibility to prove they're vital cogs in the family wheel.
Does this mean we can stop dreading the teen years?
Image: Cincinnati Children's
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