Pop quiz, my bloggies: What, at least according to a longitudinal study conducted at the University of Minnesota that followed the development of a number of kids from toddlerhood to young adulthood, is the single most important predictor that your child will wind up happy, healthy, successful, out of jail, and with the fewest monkeys on his/her back (e.g. drugs)?

Going to a good school? Growing up in a loving family? Being part of a stable household? Being imbued with a high IQ? Being blessed with wealthy parents?

Wrong, nope, nope, wrong, nope. Of course, none of the above hurts. But according to the study the single most important factor determining a person's success is whether that person did chores around the house as a kid.

I know that may be hard to swallow, my bloggies. And you are free to accept or dismiss the results of this study (easy to find online, just google "kids and chores").

I buy it, though. It's like our parents, and their parents, and their parents before them, kept repeating like a mantra: "builds character."

Yes, chores are heinously dull and your kids will squawk and prefer to watch TV. That's the point! I'm always telling one or another of my boys (ages 12, 9, and 7, currently): "Dude, life's not all fun and games and candy and watching Tv and being entertained while your parents do all the freakin' work around here. Maybe it was when you were little but now it's time to ease into reality, like a cold pool, just a bit. To get your toes wet. When you grow up you'll find, especially if you have kids, that work is the main thing; and the fun and games and movie and TV and all the rest of it is just the icing. Sooner you learn that the better, kiddo. (Now make the bed/sweep the floor/clean out the rat cage, etc.)"

Next post I'd like to go a bit into the specifics of getting your kids off the couch and raking/sweeping/mopping, the question of paid work, and so forth. But for now let me just say: putting your kids to work around the house is a favour not only to you but them as well.

Not only will you put them on the path to success, but it will make your life easier-- both now and in the future.

You'll be amazed how even a little thing like someone other than you making the bed (my youngest, Adam, 7 does ours: that's his "chore," that and cleaning the lint off the dryer thingie-- seriously). And they'll make your life easier when you get older, because, them being all successful and everything, they'll be able to lend you money for bingo.

And maybe they'll cook you up a little "alpha-getty" on the hot plate of your senior-citizens' residential facility. (Formerly known as "old folks' home")

And won't that be yummy? What about you, my bloggies? Do your kids work around the house, or just lay there like jellyfish?