Children's Responsibilities

Am I too hard on my kids? too easy on them? I don't know sometimes. It depends mostly on who I'm comparing myself with: compared to the majority of parents today I am way too hard, but compared to the pioneers and pilgrims of several generations ago I am far too lenient on them. That's really where I want to be: I want my children to have a fun and carefree childhood, yet I don't want it to be free from responsibility so that adulthood is a rude awakening to them. I want to prepare them for real life without real life stealing away their innocence now.
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While I don't know what their future holds for them, I do hope they will be responsible, faithful, observant, servant-hearted. I sorted some of my chores into broad categories, and made it a goal to train my daughters in each of those categories, one small step at a time. At this point they are in charge of setting the table for each meal, putting all their own toys away, putting away their own laundry, folding and putting away the kitchen towels and washcloths, cleaning the bathroom sink, putting away the dry silverware and plates, clearing their own dishes after a meal, packing Daddy's lunch, and helping me in preparing food for our meals and snacks. None of these chores are terribly difficult and they don't do all of it on their own, but understanding that these are their responsibilities rather than something they help their parents with has made it much easier for them to simply do what we ask of them without a fuss. (Not that there isn't still a fuss, especially with new responsibilities; but there's less of one.)
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One of my chore categories is "cleaning", so I started a few months ago to train my daughters in several simple cleaning chores and requiring them to complete one each day. It went ok, but sometimes what they cleaned was dirtier when they finished than when they began. So I backed up a bit. I gave my younger daughter the "cleaning" chore of emptying the silverware compartment of our dish drainer (we don't have a dishwasher) and taught my older daughter how to wipe down our bathroom sink with a dry rag. Once I felt they were regularly doing a good job without complaining I told them to switch. Apparently, cleaning the bathroom is more exciting than putting away clean dishes. Who knew??? My 4yr is now very excited each day to clean our sink while our 5yr complains a bit before putting away the silverware. It's not like it takes her even 5 minutes...
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Part of my long-term plan is for their chore responsibilities to expand as their abilities increase. Shortly after being given the job of emptying the silverware container, the 5yr was told to add the plates ("one at a time!") to her daily chore. I'm just now adding to the 4yr old's chore by asking her to wipe off the wall behind the sink after she's done with the sink itself.
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There's no specific time set for doing the chores, mostly because our schedule changes from day to day. Instead I've asked that they complete it sometime before dinner. Also, though, I want them to eventually see their chores as being their responsibility, to take pride in a job well done and feel the accomplishment of being entrusted with something important. For now, if they've had a good bit of playtime without making a move to complete their chores or if it's getting near dinnertime, I ask them to stop whatever they're doing and complete their chores. Usually this is after our midday rest and before afternoon projects and playtime begin.
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My children may not have the long list of responsibilities and accomplishments described in the Little House books, but they're doing a great job so far with the ones I've given to them. I'm proud of them, regardless of how they measure of to "Someone Else"'s idea of what they ought to be responsible for at their age.
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Linked with Works for Me Wednesday and Modest Monday