Let them be little.

Have you ever heard the Billy Dean country song  'Let them be little'?

I remember the very first time I heard this song. I remember exactly how I felt, my heart melted, my eyes involuntarily teared up, and admittedly I felt a tiny pang of guilt. In my mind, this song spoke to me of the exact way that our children should be raised, they should be allowed their innocence, their time to play, their time to get messy, to learn their lessons and find their feet.

Our little ones are small for such a short time, so why do we sometimes feel in a rush to let them grow?
We want them to sleep through the night, we are desperate for them to crawl and walk and talk. We want them to help us.
But as the song says "you turn around and its time to let them go... "

I started thinking about this song the other day as I was pondering responsibilities and childhood chores. My eldest son is 10, and I was surprised to learn that many of his peers already make their own lunches for school, grab their own breakfast, help look after younger siblings, and have other such responsibilities.
Now my son is no stranger to helping out around the house, he and his sister are expected to set the table for dinner, keep their rooms clean, and I'll frequently be asking him to fetch something (a nappy, or a toy for example) for one of his younger siblings. To me though, cooking or preparing food, sweeping, mopping, dressing younger siblings etc, these jobs are mine, or my husband's. These are not things I expect of my children, or wish to expect of them in the near future. They should be focusing on having fun. I am responsible for running the home. These lines should not be greyed.

It turns out that I have friends that strongly disagree with me on such matters. And of course, this is fine. I have many Mama friends, and I do not expect that we will always choose to raise our children in exactly the same way. I found it interesting though, that by not raising my children with this strong sense of home responsibility and duty, could leave them ill equipped to deal with life outside of the nest. What if they wake up one day, in their own home, with no idea how to boil an egg, or iron a shirt? Will I have failed them?

So it has led me to think about age appropriate responsibilities for my children.
As far as cooking or preparing meals goes, I'm still not thrilled with the prospect of my young children fending for themselves. Even if this just means toasting some bread or pouring cereal into a bowl and adding milk! I can't justify it, it just seems like this one should be one the grown-ups, and least until they are in their teens.

Equally, dressing, bathing or changing nappies of younger siblings, I do not feel comfortable with.
My husband and I chose to bring 4 children into our lives, and therefore looking after such basic needs as these should be on us.

So what does that leave? Help me out.
What responsibilities do you expect from your children. Do you think I'm setting myself up to have spoiled, mollycoddled adolescents? I'm intrigued!