Should you reward for chores?

Most parents reward their children to help. But what if that puts your greatest wish for your child - their happiness - at risk?

Kids are at home more than they've ever been. You want to teach your child to have a good work ethic. You want to teach them how to important it is to put in effort and be rewarded for that effort. And you need them to help with the household chores. So like most parents, you reward them - - I know I did.

But let's consider what we want most for our children, for them to be happy, and what we know from decades of research.

What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone – but, according to Dr. Robert Waldinger, you're mistaken. As the director of the now 80-year-old study on adult development at Harvard, the longest of its kind, Dr. Waldinger has unprecedented access to data on true happiness and satisfaction.

Dr. Waldinger's TED talk, between youtube and TED has over 50 million views. His message? There is one thing, just one thing that gives us a happy and we now know healthy life: relationships.

We also now know from decades of research how to teach our children to have the best relationships. It’s a set of skills called social emotional learning. And the foundation for those skills? Empathy.

So what does rewarding your child for kind and helpful acts have to do with teaching our children empathy?

Here's a short video that we hope you'll enjoy that answers the question "Should you reward for chores?"