Survey Suggests A Clean Work Area Can Boost Your Child’s Creativity
You can tell your kids its science when it comes to you harping on them encouraging them to keep their desks clean at home and at school. Clorox decided to look into just how much a difference a clean work area at home can make when it comes to your kiddos’ learning, and they found that clean desks may mean more creativity for your child. Additionally, it can strengthen their problem-solving ability and increase their productivity, so tell them youngins’ to get to work! Cleaning up, that is. Muah-ha-ha-ha-ha.
Science Says Cleanliness Is Next To Creativity
If your kids are school-aged, you’re either gearing up for them to go back to school, or they may already have had their adorable first-day-with-the-chalkboard-pictures. It’s the time when we’re all optimistic that clothes will stay as clean as they are now, lunches will always be as fun (sort of) to make as they are now and desks and rooms will be as clean as they are now.
Yeah.Right.
But, data from a survey Clorox conducted to see how cleanliness affects a child’s creativity and productivity found that it may be worth the hassle to keep all the spaces neat and tidy (until the end of the new school year, at least).
The survey asked questions of parents of school-aged kids about what they noticed when their children’s workspaces were clean. Half of the surveyed parents found the kids did their homework faster than they typically would and a third felt that clean workspace helped them be more creative. A quarter of those parents surveyed also felt like clean spaces helped their kids with problem-solving and two-thirds of the surveyed parents concurred that their children got better grades when workspaces were clean.
It’s Not Rocket Science, Or Is It?
Not so surprisingly, these results seem to mirror those found by researchers at Princeton who concluded that cluttered work environments can make one more distracted. Makes sense, doesn’t it? If BeyBlades and My Little Ponies are beckoning for attention at the same time your kiddo is expected to write her spelling words one gazillion times each, what do you think they’ll choose?
Which Way Do You Go?
Clorox also conducted a study that looked at children who were eight- and nine-years-old. They were randomly selected to go into either a clean room or a dirty room to finish the creative tasks they were given. They found that children who were chosen to go into the clean rooms spent more time-on-task and were more productive when working on their creative projects.
Clorox believes that clean space is a springboard for creativity, and considering parents feel their children are less stressed (as are they!) when their areas are organized, we tend to agree!
