Happy "Put Your Kids To Work Day"

Popular Mechanics is quickly becoming one of my favorite publications:

Today is Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. According to the Ms. Foundation, the goal of this annual program (which began as Take Your Daughter To Work Day and expanded to include boys in 2003) is to help children “discover the power and possibilities associated with a balanced work and family life…” OK, great. But here at Popular Mechanics, we think there’s something parents can do every day that will help their kids a lot more than parking them in the office conference room once a year: Instead of taking our kids to work, how about putting them to work?

Though it is fashionable to worry that American children are “overscheduled,” the fact is that many of today’s youth are being raised in a world of unprecedented comfort. Never before has so little been expected of so many.

A 2001 Time/CNN poll, found that 75 percent of American adults believe children today do fewer chores than did the children of 10 or 15 years earlier. And 68 percent of parents think their own children are either “somewhat” or “very” spoiled. Got that? More than two thirds of Americans think their own children are spoiled. Well, there is a solution.

Instead of hovering protectively over our kids--“helicoptering” is the term for this modern style of parenting--why not teach them to take care of themselves: See that sock on the floor? It goes in the washing machine--like this. Next time you need clean socks, you’ll know what to do.