Around the world, families are helping each other out with household responsibilities like cleaning and childcare.

We learned this from research we conducted prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. Here’s what we know:

Kids actively contribute at home. Virtually all kids aged 6 to 12 (92%) say they help at home – a statement that is backed up by their parents, with 90% in agreement. According to kids, they contribute to their households by cleaning (63%), playing with other kids (54%), shopping (40%), and cooking (37%).

Some kids help out relatives, too – especially grandparents. 4 in 10 kids aged 6 to 12 help family members outside the home – especially grandparents (23%), aunts/uncles (11%), cousins (10%).

Parents commonly agree that kids in general are indulged too much, but fewer believe that’s true of their own children. Most parents (71%) feel that kids today are spoiled. However, only 41% believe this sentiment is true of their own kids.

Parents feel that kids have fewer household responsibilities than they did as children. Almost all parents (89%) say they did chores when they were children. But a smaller proportion (68%) say they assign chores to their kids.

Household help also comes from other relatives. Many families (59%) say their household receives help from family outside the home. The types of help they receive the most are babysitting (28%), playing with kids (21%), buying things for kids (20%), and drop-offs/pick-ups (17%).