someone said something about kids not learning lots of basic skills. While I wholeheartedly agree that some kids don't get exposed to much--either because their families are so wealthy that they hire everything done, or so poor that there is true depravity of experience. I was an educator for 34 years and saw both! I live in a rural community(but worked in the suburbs) and we are in the country. I do think that many kids in that environment do get exposed to the kinds of chores we are talking about--my kids know how to drive a tractor, a stick shift, attach a trailer and load it (distribution of weight, etc); split wood, tend a fire (we sometimes lose power for days on end), dig holes, handle horses, cows, chickens, change a tire (we are on gravel so when it's graded we can count on at least one flat--my kids used to time their tire changes like a pit crew when they were in school!). My son started doing his own laundry when my daughter was learning in prep for college, both cook, clean (although that is debatable!), paint, my son welds, does construction (he and I built a shed/coop when he was in 9th grade), etc.
I worked with families that would not let their kids do any of these things--worried that the neighbors would think they were too poor to afford help! And then on the other end of the spectrum, those that simple did not have to opportunity to do any of those things.
Good parents raise self-reliant kids--but the definition of what's needed to be self-reliant has changed. That's both good and bad!