London - If you want your children to do as they are told, then write the instructions down, say scientists.
The researchers have discovered that the “authority of the written” word, which is known to apply to adults, also extends to children as young as four.
In one case in their study, involving 61 children aged four to six, three quarters of the youngsters were more likely to obey print-based instructions over spoken ones.
“It is a very striking result,” said Professor Kathleen Corriveau, the lead researcher from Boston University who worked with the universities of Nottingham and Warwick, on the study published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology.
“We think it is seeing adults use texts such as recipe books, maps and menus as sources of authoritative information that influences them,” she said.
Professor Corriveau even put in writing her advice for parents: “Keep the instructions simple and break down complicated instructions.
“So go to sleep would be, ‘Close your eyes, stay in bed, keep quiet’.”
It has long been known adults generally place more faith in the written word than its spoken equivalent.
For example, they are more likely to follow a written road sign than verbal directions if they contradict.
Professor Corriveau said the study suggests the written word is safe for generations to come. But she suggested that the print-based instructions could become a threat to parental authority, because children could look up advice on the internet that may contradict what they have been told by adults.
“It is not to do with the vocabulary used,” she said. “It just seems to be the actual writing down of something that gives it its authority.
“Text seems to be this very special thing for children.”
The report concluded: “Whenever an adult reads a recipe, a map, a menu, a price sticker, a set of instructions, or a label, children will often have an opportunity to see the adult subsequently engage in actions guided by what they have read.
“On this argument, children observe adults acting in the real world on the basis of written texts and come to invest them with a similar authority themselves.” - Daily Mail