Should Children Do Chores?

What age is appropriate to start a child on chores?

Two...maybe before that, but certainly in the second year. Let 'em take paper plates and paper cups and airline forks and knives and spoons and set the table.

Do you think parents coddle their children and don't give them as many chores as they used to? And do you see a detriment in that?

I do think that parents are trying to protect their children now. Probably because they feel so stressed, they want to protect their children from stress. And I don't think it's possible. I think stress is a condition we all have to learn to live with. We saw it in New York, after 911 and learned a lot about how parents felt they couldn't ever promise their child a safe world any longer. And we're devastated by that realization. Well it's true. We cannot promise our kids a safe world. So what can we give them instead? We can give them resilience. We can give them a feeling of I know how to do things and I can do them. And those kids will be ready for what ever they have to face.