His pants are on backward, her shoelaces resemble a ball of
twine and there’s more peanut butter on the plate than on their
toast. While these early attempts at autonomy may be far from
perfect, they are worth it if kids gain some independence.
Parents are buzzing about Elizabeth Kolbert’s article entitled
“Spoiled Rotten” in this month’s New Yorker magazine, which
examines why North American children have so few skills by the
time they leave home. The examples of how kids generally don’t
perform household chores unless instructed to (and often not
even then) ring true for a lot of parents. Ms. Kolbert argues
that we do far too much for our kids and would be wise to look
to other cultures. Whether it’s a 3-year-old Parisian baking
cupcakes by herself or a 6-year-old gathering and preparing
dinner in the Amazon, she says children are capable of doing far
more than we think they can. Kathy Lynn, a Vancouver-based
parenting author, who runs workshops and seminars on parenting
issues, said it’s a matter of steppi