Quick Tips for Caregivers January 2026

Chores, not scores!

Caregivers, are you feeling like you have to do too much for your child? Like you’re constantly optimizing their schoolwork, loading them with high expectations, and managing their lives and covering their chores so that they can put grades and test scores first?

In this must-see TED Talk, Julie Lythcott-Haims suggests how you might be able to breathe easier. True success and happiness, she says, don’t flourish though micromanaging your kids toward perfection and high achievement, but through their experience of love. What does that look like? Letting your kids work through what’s important to them and learning to figure out how THEY find solutions. And letting them do chores! Seriously. Watch the video to see how Lythcott-Haims fits the pieces together. This short talk may just give you the permission you’ve sought to step back a bit and watch your child become the confident, resilient, self-reliant person they’re meant to be.