My parents were loving but never gave me any responsibilities. I didn't have to do any chores. My mother did all the cooking and cleaning and laundry. I remember when I got to college I had to figure out how to use a laundry machine because I'd never used it! And I'm afraid I'll always be a bad housekeeper because I never learned to make being neat part of my routine (my mother always cleaned my room for me). Most anything I wanted they would get for me (within reason). It definitely would have helped me to have some responsibilities -- when I got into the adult world, I was really overwhelmed by all the stuff that needs to be done every day! And I still don't do half of it. I eat lots of frozen food, and I periodically have to hire a maid service to come help me out because my place gets so messy (and I'm a single adult living alone!). I think if I'd had some responsibilities as a child (or a teenager) I wouldn't have felt so overwhelmed when I left home and tried to figure out how to take care of everything myself. I didn't even know how to check the oil in my car since my dad always took care of that.

They loved me but didn't know how to help me prepare for the real world. They thought the best evidence of love would be to take care of everything for me. But it really would have been better to expect me to take care of a few things myself. But all in all, I still turned out allright (except for maybe being a slob). :-)

Interesting thread!
Sidony