That kind of language implies that people who don't work so hard don't deserve their lives... which by extension includes children. It's part of the premise that says kids should be made to do chores - they need to "pitch in" and "be part of the family" by dint of their labor, or they're just moochers, not deserving. Human worth measured in "contribution".
In some times and places, that's valid. Non-contributing members of a group are literal burdens, and as such less valued, less worthy. They're drains on resources. As appalling as that idea may seem from a more privileged perspective, there's a rationale and even a morality to the idea. And that idea clings in the common psyche long after it's no longer necessary to measure persons in terms of economic or social value. Parents feel morally justified in requiring kids to do chores - kids *should* be made to do them.
That's one of the privileges of unschooling - kids get to be valued even when they don't contribute. They get to live wholly undeserved lives. And that turns out to be a good thing, psychologically and emotionally. It doesn't ruin kids to live undeserved lives, it doesn't stop them from being good and gracious and generous. It lets them be those things on their own terms.
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