Children as young as five should be able to help with household tasks if they have an ill or handicapped parent, according to Rotterdam city council, reports the AD on Thursday.

The council has decided that families with a handicapped or sick parent will get fewer visits from council-funded household helps if they have young children, the paper says.
City council executve Jantine Kriens says children aged five to 12 can tidy up, set the table, do the washing up, go shopping and wash clothes to help their handicapped parents.
Opposition MPs have reacted furiously to the plan, but Kriens, a Labour party supporter, is sticking to her guns, the paper says.
‘Of course children should not become carers but a child has responsibilities too. It is only normal that a child makes his bed and sandwiches,’ the paper quoted her as saying.