Work May Not Be Best for Young Kids(ldren as much when they're working Ramch...),Health

"Parents need to keep track of what their kids are doing, ask questions about what they do at work, just stay involved," he said.

Frederick Zimmerman, an associate professor who studies children at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the study shouldn't make parents fret.

"Millions of parents and their school-age children find informal work to be a healthy and productive part of growing up," he said. "Nothing in this study should cause parents any concern about having Billy baby-sit or Susie mow a neighbor's lawn."

Indeed, he said, "there are just too many plausible alternative explanations for these results for me to worry that informal work itself has any adverse effects on behavior among fifth-graders."

Still, the study does provide helpful new information, he said. "We know very little about kids and work, especially this kind of informal work. So, in that sense, this study may be useful in launching an academic dialogue, though it should not and will not be the last word."

More information

Boston University has tips on raising children.

SOURCES: Rajeev Ramchand, Ph.D., associate behavioral scientist, Rand Corp., Washington, D.C.; Frederick Zimmerman, Ph.D., associate professor, University of California, Los Angeles; April 2009, American Journal of Preventive Medicine