When Is The Right Time For The Next Step In Growing Up?

With school starting this week my wife and I were just talking this weekend about where our 8 year old daughter Katelyn (The Gator) should be in terms of chores, responsibilities and her social development outside of the classroom where she is doing fantastically well…thank heavens for mom’s genetics!

A recent survey reported on by the Daily Mail shows what a couple of thousand of their readers think are the milestone ages.

Allowance? Most parents said kids should be allowed pocket money at age nine. How about laundry? Seems like I always get the last minute requests—parents say kids should start putting their own clothes in the wash at eight, and should walk alone to school and have their own cell phone by age 12.

What about social media? Brits say most think kids are old enough for their own Facebook account at 14, and should be allowed to listen to explicit songs by age 15.  Tell me why we have explicit songs again?  Does that make the beat any better? Does it just promote “rebellion” like the Rolling Stones did when they sang “Let’s Spend The Night Together”?

But the dinosaur does digress-- 70 percent of parents think privileges are granted too soon nowadays, and 29 percent consider themselves to be stricter than other parents. (Daily Mail)

Where do you come down on the adolescent milestones?