So this is what my problem is:

Rudolf Dreikurs, writing from the late 1940s on, railed against permissiveness run amuck. “Dependent children…give a great deal of trouble…. The more capable the mother, the more she tends to assign to herself all the domestic duties and responsibilities, the more likely will her children become dependent. You should never do anything for a child that he can do for himself. If he is used to being catered to and waited on, then this procedure must be stopped…never should you relieve him of any obligation.”

The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the MicrowaveNot to mention the damn dishwasher, vacuum cleaner, washing machine, steam iron, and other modern appliances.

Ruth Cowan’s marvelous study of housewives in the first half of the century shows that each new piece of equipment (e.g., vacuum cleaners) elevated standards of cleanliness so that women actually spent no less time at their tasks.

From Anxious Parents: A History Of Modern Childrearing In America by Peter N. Stearns
Three more quotes at Genetics and Health.