Generally, we tend to celebrate when our child secures first place in anything, right? Revelry might, however, seem a tad inappropriate this evening given the area of the Children's World study in which our kids have come out top.
According to research, which surveyed approximately 17,000 children from 16 countries, youngsters in the UK are - wait for it - the worst in the world when it comes to lending a hand around the house, with just 47% of British youngsters asserting they tend to household chores on a daily basis.
However, laziness around the house is by far one of the least concerning matters highlighted by the study, with youngsters in the UK painting a particular bleak picture of their attitude to life in general.
Through a series of surveys, researchers gauged youngsters' attitudes on a variety of issues including home life, money, academia, friendship, personal wellbeing and overall happiness, and it appears our children are wholly dissatisfied with a number of aspects of their life.
According to The Telegraph, children in the UK ranked 13th out 16 countries for overall life satisfaction, 12th out of 16 for satisfaction with family life and 11th out of 16 for satisfaction with personal friendships. Further to this, British children ranked incredibly low on the scale when it came to satisfaction with appearance and body image.
Acknowledging the worrying results thrown up by the international study, Gwyther Rees, of the Social Policy Research Unit at the University of York, said: "There are some quite troubling messages from England and the picture is quite similar to what we found with older age groups."
"Children are happy at home and with friends but less happy at school where there seems to be an issue around bullying and being left out," she surmised while reflecting on the study's findings.
The study was a collaborative effort between social scientists in the UK, Spain, Germany and Israel.
