When does a Chore becomes a Bore?

Tonight Kyle decided to help do the dinner dishes. He pulled his little stool from the bathroom right up to the kitchen sink and announced "I can do these dishes, I know how to do everything myself." Since the older kids were still out at various activities and Megan was in the bath tub, I humored him and let him go ahead and let him prove to me that he was capable and confident in his ability to do the mound of dirty dishes that were waiting for Jordan (it was her night and wouldn't be getting home until late, so I would probably take pity on her and do them myself since it was a school night!)

These were a few comments Kyle made while he intently scrubbed away on one plastic cup:

"I'm doing a good job, a really really really soapy one"

"I can do everything now, and laundry is the easiest"

"you know I can do these all by myself without any help"

and my favorite:

"Mom, can I have some money now?"

After about 20 minutes of hearing the water continue to run, I came back to the kitchen to check on his progress. This is what I found in the dishwasher:

I asked him if he'd like me to help him load some of the dishes since there were so many, and he replied:

"sure, if you do the rest, I'll give you some of my money."

However, he didn't completely surrendor the job to me, but instead "helped" me get them finished up. He was a great little boss and had to tell me where to put each dish and utensil to the exact spot he thought they should go.

What I want to know is exactly when does a child quit wanting to do chores and show his maturity and independence by his newfound capabilities and start to dread the word "chore" like it is a sentence worse than torture. If I could just bottle a little of that 4 year old enthusiasm and inject it in my 11 and 13 year old, I'd have it made! I'd also quickly patent the miracle syrum and sell it to the masses!