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Given the parent's comment, we have no idea if the kids are old enough to fold clothes, or have the physical ability, or anything else. To say nothing of the ef

Given the parent's comment, we have no idea if the kids are old enough to fold clothes, or have the physical ability, or anything else. To say nothing of the effort and time it can take to corral kids into doing chores. Giving obvious advice is both patronising and almost always unhelpful.

oh_sigh 7y ago
If they are too young to do it themselves, then I'm not sure if they would care if there is a wrinkle in their slacks. And, I've seen parents do all sorts of time-suck things that would be actually teaching kids self sufficiency, but instead the parents are losing their own time and handicapping their children. E.g. a friends mom in high school would still clean her room, and now - no surprise, 15 years later she lives in a pig sty except for the few times a mom visits her apartment and gives it a deep clean. Maybe some patronizing advice like "make your kid clean their own room" would have helped.
- missosoup 7y ago
  The downvotes you're getting are pretty telling of the american tendency to infantalise their children. Kids from 5 onwards are perfectly capable of doing various chores around the house and until recently in history, it was expected of kids to start contributing to household work as soon as they're old enough to. But after the post-war age of abundance, americans are like oh no our bubby 10 year old can't handle washing the dishes and folding their own clothes.
  - wyattpeak 7y ago
    > The downvotes you're getting are pretty telling of the american tendency to infantalise their children. No, they're not. They're telling of the fact that people fundamentally trust that others are doing the best they can in the situation they find themselves in, and have probably considered the obvious alternatives. GP's not getting downvoted because people don't think children should do chores (that's not a particularly common opinion, unless you're looking to bash Americans), but because it's a callous and self-important opinion that their friend's mother had never considered getting her kids to do chores, and that a reminder from a busybody would have solved the issue.

oh_sigh 7y ago

If they are too young to do it themselves, then I'm not sure if they would care if there is a wrinkle in their slacks. And, I've seen parents do all sorts of time-suck things that would be actually teaching kids self sufficiency, but instead the parents are losing their own time and handicapping their children. E.g. a friends mom in high school would still clean her room, and now - no surprise, 15 years later she lives in a pig sty except for the few times a mom visits her apartment and gives it a deep clean. Maybe some patronizing advice like "make your kid clean their own room" would have helped.

missosoup 7y ago
The downvotes you're getting are pretty telling of the american tendency to infantalise their children. Kids from 5 onwards are perfectly capable of doing various chores around the house and until recently in history, it was expected of kids to start contributing to household work as soon as they're old enough to. But after the post-war age of abundance, americans are like oh no our bubby 10 year old can't handle washing the dishes and folding their own clothes.
- wyattpeak 7y ago
  > The downvotes you're getting are pretty telling of the american tendency to infantalise their children. No, they're not. They're telling of the fact that people fundamentally trust that others are doing the best they can in the situation they find themselves in, and have probably considered the obvious alternatives. GP's not getting downvoted because people don't think children should do chores (that's not a particularly common opinion, unless you're looking to bash Americans), but because it's a callous and self-important opinion that their friend's mother had never considered getting her kids to do chores, and that a reminder from a busybody would have solved the issue.