Kids are capable of so much more than we give them credit for. I coddled my oldest until it dawned on me that it was in his best interest to be able to do as much for himself as possible. And the only way those lessons would stick is if he did them regularly. My twins are now 12yo and they each cook a meal each week. My son needs some help but DD can mix up crepes and cook them, mix up cookies from scratch and bake them, chop and sauce vegetables, make scrambled eggs, etc. We started doing a lot more last fall but have especially been getting creative these last 2 months. I make them sort their clothes and check pockets (which I then wash and dry) and they sort, fold, hang and put away their clothes. They all load the dishwasher and unload and put the clean dishes away. They each do a cleaning chore each day which range from scrubbing toilets to vacuuming and mopping. I make them pull weeds each week and keep their rooms picked up. I believe my oldest started mowing the lawn when he was 13yo (DH taught him on the riding lawnmower). I used to make my older boys' lunches every day until they started cooking with their boy scouts troup last summer. Now I buy healthy snacks (I don't trust them to buy healthy stuff) and they pick out what they want for their lunches. This summer, all my kids are learning to iron their clothes.
Another mom here mentioned how she'd like her high schoolers to be in charge of running their household for a month and I think that's a fantastic idea.
" I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent." Mahatma Gandhi
"This is the ultimate weakness of violence: It multiplies evil and violence in the universe. It doesn't solve any problems." Martin Luther King, Jr.