At what age do you teach your children to be self sufficient?

I don't think 7 is too young. My son will be 7 in January and we have been teaching self- sufficiency since he was a toddler....starting with little things, of course. My son thrives on being able to do things for himself.

By 7 yo your child is in school, and should be more than capable of doing things on his own.

A 7 yo should be able to pick his own clothes and dress himself.

Do chores.

Pick up after himself.

Make himself a sandwich, bowl of cereal, etc.

And lots more.

What - exactly - is the real issue here?

I saw your other post and agree with most.

You start teaching them things very young with supervision.

Certain things should be done alone at 7 but I would no way call my kids 'self sufficient' at that age.

For me it's a gradual thing through out life until they leave the house.

Between 2.5-4.

Actually it starts from the very beginning, by leaving baby in the crib to self entertain.  Then you move on by adding toys and books, you start teaching the child how to dress usually during the toddler stages, you teach them their names, addresses and phone numbers.  You teach them who they give this type of information to.  You teach them that they are not to go with people they don't know regardless of how that person looks, even if that person knows their name.  You start teaching them to help with the cooking, learning simple meals like making cold sandwiches, how to use the microwave and to wait a bit before removing something from the microwave because it is hot, hot, hot.  This can be done between the ages of 5 and 7.  (I was cooking my own breakfast on the stove when I was 6), My daughter in fact fixed me breakfast in bed for Mother's Day when she was five...you can read it here LOL http://coeyg.blogspot.com/p/breakfast-in-bed.html

I taught my daughter to do the laundry when she was seven, that doesn't mean she did it all the time but she helped.  I taughter her how to use an iron when she was eight and she was ironing her own clothes when she was nine.  She started picking out her clothes when she was about three, I let her put together her own "looks' and she did pretty well.  I always encouraged her to have her own "style" She had a paper route when she was nine, yes I had to get up and help her but she worked very hard on that route.

Sorry to interrupt..I'm just very interested in u..don't mean to come off weird..but what the heck do u do for a living?

Quoting CoeyG:

I taught my daughter to do the laundry when she was seven, that doesn't mean she did it all the time but she helped.  I taughter her how to use an iron when she was eight and she was ironing her own clothes when she was nine.  She started picking out her clothes when she was about three, I let her put together her own "looks' and she did pretty well.  I always encouraged her to have her own "style" She had a paper route when she was nine, yes I had to get up and help her but she worked very hard on that route.

Self-sufficiency is an ongoing thing. You start with little things like putting their dishes in the sink or their dirty clothes in the hamper. You can start that at 1.5 or 2. As the child gets older, you add on more things they do for themselves. So no...7 isn't too young to have responsibilities.

 it starts at about that age, but it is an ongoing process. Little things at first, but it is a learning thing everyday. Like at 7 she can be responsibile for dressing herself, making her bed, picking up her room, taking dirty clothes to the laundry room...etc....Hopefully you've taught her all she'll need to be self sufficent by the time she's 18. GL