People will vary a great deal in their response to life's challenges, but it general a parent has two basic choices in this matter.
1. Teach their children that the world is their oyster, that their wants and needs are supplied by someone else and they need put out little effort to gain those wants. This is likely to produce a child that never grows up, lives with Mom and Dad for decade(s) after coming of age. It produces a college grad tat has no idea of how to hold a job, that doesn't know enough to go to work every day, on time, and is competing with others that have already learned those kinds of things.
It is also far too likely to produce a child behind bars; excessive free time in young people too often results in appropriate behavior, behavior from people that have never learned they are responsible for their actions and lives. By the time one is 65 years old most people have learned to handle free time, but children haven't.
2. Teach their children that work produces what they want, that they can only have what they earn themselves whether it be from a job somewhere or other effort. Teach them a work ethic; that when they accept the responsibility of a job they need to accept that their time no longer belongs only to them. Teach them that the "entitlement" philosophy is not acceptable - that the world does not owe them a living or anything else.
I've raised two children, both of whom entered the workforce at 15. They didn't work much at that age, maybe 1 or 2 days per week, but they learned from it and when they were ready to take on full time employment they hit the work scene running. The days of being fired for not showing up, or showing up late every day, were gone - they already learned that lesson at a time when their food and lodging didn't depend on it.
I've also seen far too many youngsters in my trade, just out of school, that have no concept of personal responsibility on the job. They can't get there on time, they don't show at all some days and refuse to use their own tools and equipment. Better to borrow from someone else as buying their own tools takes away from their beer money and that seems unacceptable. Unfortunately, they are competing for that job with older, experienced workers that do understand these things and the inevitable result is that they are looking for work most of the time.
Kids absolutely need play time when young, but it is also the time to begin easing them into life's responsibilities. That's the parent's task, after all; to teach their kids how to survive in the cold world, not to support them for a lifetime while they play.
