I was reading an interview with a child rearing expert who says, “Don’t do for children what they can do for themselves.” 

I have been tossing this around in my brain for a few days.  Do I do too much for my children?  Or do I expect too much from them?  Or have we achieved a good balance?

My children can do alot of things for themselves.  But just because they can, does it mean that they should?

I have turned the responsibility of certain things over to them… cleaning their own rooms, getting their clothes to the laundry room, making their own breakfast (most of the time), picking out their own clothing to wear each day.  However, even with the responsibility on their shoulders I still remind them.  If I didn’t their bedrooms would be condemned and they would be forced to go naked at least once a week. 

Oddly I don’t need to remind them to make their breakfast!  Maybe those natural consequences, like hunger, actually do work!

But other things they could potentially do, such as laundry, I still do myself.  Simply because if they ruin their clothes it will be me who has to replace them.