Well, the oldest one is only seven, and it is more trouble trying to get them to work than it is to do it myself. When they are two and three years old, it is more trouble to involve them than it is to do it yourself, but if you wait until they are actually big enough to be of real assistance, by then they will have developed routines and habits that do not include working. If you serve the children until they are three or four maybe even six or eight and then try to get them involved, they feel that you are making uncalled-for demands. If, on the other hand, you had involved them in helping themselves and others from the time they were walking, chores would be natural to them. There would be no hassle, no unlearning process, no abrupt change in policy.
Some parents underestimate the potential of their children.
Others feel guilty for demanding their children assume responsibility. By the time most parents decide their children are old enough to assist in the work load, they have already instilled in them the assurance that Mother is their servant and they are the deserving recipients. When Mother tries to reverse the Mama is servant trend, the kids will raise such a fuss about helping, that Mother retreats, finding it more comfortable to be a complaining servant than to trouble herself teaching them. To fail to teach the young ones responsibility simply because you detest conflict is to surrender to timidity as a vice. Certainly, we do not want to demand more of our children than they are capable of giving, for that could be very discouraging to them.