Chores as Executive Function Practice

By Laura Lurns · Reviewed by Philip Weaver · Last reviewed 2026-10-30

What we mean by executive function in chores

In our view, a chore is a real task with steps, a start and an end. To us, that makes it a place to practice planning and finishing. In our view, practice reaches the thing it is practice at. In our view, a chore is practice at planning and finishing that chore.

Take setting the table. Your child has to get started. Then they have to keep track of what goes where. Then they have to notice when the job is done. Each of those is one of the everyday jobs we describe above.

Calling a chore practice is our view, not a research finding.

What the research we hold says, and where it stops

One online survey asked 207 parents about their children's chores (Tepper and colleagues, 2022). The parents lived in 15 countries, most in Australia. Parents answered once, at one point in time. Some children needed less help with chores, such as making a meal. Their parents rated them as having fewer working memory problems. They also rated fewer problems holding back impulses. That shows a link, not a cause. The link may run the other way. The authors say children with stronger skills may do more chores. Or they may be expected to.

That survey has limits. Parents rated both the chores and the skills. The survey asked how much help a child needed, not how often. Pet care chores were not linked. The survey did not measure attention or schoolwork. Its rating scale often differs from tests a child does, the authors note.

A large U.S. study followed almost 10,000 children (White and colleagues, 2019). Parents said how often their child did chores in kindergarten. Children with more frequent chores in kindergarten rated themselves higher in third grade. That was their own rating of social skills, school ability and life satisfaction. That shows a link, not a cause. We could read only its summary.

One small study asked 44 parents about chores (Dunn and colleagues, 2009). Half of their children had ADHD. The study found no clear difference in how often the two groups did chores. Children with ADHD needed more help with them. We could read only its summary.

We hold no study that tested chores as a way to build executive function. That is a gap in what we hold. It is not a finding that chores do not help with executive function. Nothing in the studies on this page tested a Learning Success program.

How we would make a chore chart that works

• Pick one chore to start with, not five.
• Break it into three or four steps your child can see.
• Put the steps on the chart, in words or in pictures.
• Do the job together the first few times.
• Hand over more of the job as your child can do more.
• When it is done, say what your child did.

This list is our own practice, not a tested method. Chores sit alongside your child's schoolwork and teaching, not in place of them.

Where to read next

There is more on our other pages. Our page on what executive function is names each job. Our page on scaffolding versus rescuing is about how you help. Our page on organization skills is about keeping track of things.

When to ask for help

Each of these is a reason to ask for help on its own.

• Little change, even with steady practice and good teaching.
• Schoolwork well below what school expects.
• A teacher who raises a concern about learning.
• Extreme upset about schoolwork.
• Complete avoidance of school or learning.
• Hopelessness about learning.
• Sadness or worry that lasts.
• Significant delays in speech, language or motor development.
• A skill that was there and has gone. Our position is that a lost skill goes to a doctor first, not a tutor.

If no skill has gone, start with the teacher. Say what you are seeing at home, and what you have tried. Beyond the teacher, the right person depends on what it turns out to be about. If the work is too hard, someone who works on that school skill. If worry or mood is the thing, someone who works with children's mental health. In our view, delays in speech, language or movement are worth raising with your child's doctor. In our view, if you are worried enough to ask, a professional evaluation is worth asking about.

Any talk of hurting themselves is a same-day call to your doctor or a crisis line.