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I think parents absolutely work for their kids. Schedules seem to be made around dance class, soccer games, playdates, etc. When I was growing up we had to fit those things in around mom and dad's schedules. If they were busy, it had to wait. Wasn't a bad lesson for me to learn...

IMO, a kid's job is going to school, studying and getting their best possible grades (I think it's unrealistic to expect A's in every subject because kids learn things differently, but it's absolutely acceptable to expect them to do the best they can).
Once that is established, then it's possible to start adding in activities. They have to be earned and the kids have to want to do them. That means there's no quitting mid-season. So they better be sure they want to do it, which means they'll likely be a bit older. In the end, that means that DS won't start T-ball because I decide he should do it. He will have to show an interest.

I agree that the parents work for their kids in most American families. My husband and I joke that we will only allow our LO to participate in extracurricular activities that doesn't involve intensive traveling for practice/games/events because we don't want become chauffeurs, lol.

My siblings and I used to have some pretty heavy duty chores growing up and while I don't intend to have our child shoulder as much as we did, she will have more responsibility than just keeping her room clean.

awesome, thank you!