# America's Little Emperors? / Raking leaves

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-little-emperors-raking-leaves/842564>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 27, 2019, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-little-emperors-raking-leaves/842564 "2019-10-27T23:13:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-little-emperors-raking-leaves/842564/21 "2019-10-29T07:15:27Z")

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> [@purplehorseshoe](#):
>
> What’s a driveway apron?

> **[All You Need to Know About the Driveway Apron](https://www.bobvila.com/articles/driveway-apron/)**
>
> A driveway apron is regulated by building codes in most communities, so replacing it can be complicated. Get the 411 before tackling this curbside project.

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**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2019, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/americas-little-emperors-raking-leaves/842564/22 "2019-10-29T08:09:39Z")

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Well, in case anybody’s interested in finding out anything about the actual trends of the data instead of just throwing around anecdotes and accusations of bias, there’s [this 2018 op-ed citing](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/18/opinion/sunday/children-chores-parenting.html) some specific (though admittedly quite limited) studies:

> [@](#):
>
> In a survey of 1,001 American adults, 75 percent said they believed regular chores made kids “more responsible” and 63 percent said chores teach kids “important life lessons.” Yet while 82 percent reported having had regular chores growing up, only 56 percent of those with children said they required them to do chores. […]
> 
> Between 2001 and 2005 a team of researchers from U.C.L.A.’s Center on the Everyday Lives of Families recorded 1,540 hours of footage of 32 middle-class, dual-earner families with at least two children going about their business in Los Angeles. They found that the parents did most of the housework and intervened quickly when the kids had trouble completing a task. Children in 22 families made it a practice to ignore or resist their parents’ requests for help. In eight families, the parents didn’t actually ask children to do much of anything. That leaves two families in which kids meaningfully helped out.

So it sounds as though there is indeed a trend these days toward reduced parental demands on children vis-a-vis household chores.

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