A study conducted recently proved that if kids are dressed as Batman, they actually work harder than if they weren’t. If this isn’t a reason to make it a federal law that you have to dress as some kind of superhero or fictional character to work every day, then I don’t know what is. I’d come every day as a different Avenger, and then sometimes as a tiny little baby kitty cat.
180 kids aged 4-6 were put into separate groups and given rote, menial tasks that they were told were very important. They had to do these tasks for 10 minutes at a time. The control groups were not costumed, while other groups were. The children were told they had to complete these very important tasks, but could also take “breaks” by playing “an extremely attractive video game” given to them on an iPad.
The kids, then, of course, spent 37% of their time on the task and 63% on the iPad on average. The 6 year olds were much better at staying on task than the 4 year olds, yet both age groups proved that if the kids were wearing a costume they actually took on the persona of their characters. This means that some of the kids who were costumed were actually looking at the task from a third-person perspective, which has proven to be a good tool to help people stay on task for longer periods of time. Separating yourself from something you don’t want to do while you are doing it is a great way to deal with doing the most boring tasks.
This is why I basically get blackout drunk when I do my dishes. No, you have a problem. You know who didn’t have a problem, though? These Batman-ass kids.
They did the best and stayed on task the longest at these tasks, compared to the kids who continued to see their tasks from a first-person perspective.
So if your kids really sucks at school, maybe let them dress however they want, and maybe they’ll come back home actual geniuses.
Or maybe they’ll just pretend that you’re dead and avenge your memory while defeating evil for the rest of their lives. Either way it’s a risk worth taking.