As children, people have few to no responsibilities for the most part.  And they generally like it that way.  After all, the less things that you are responsible for, the less things you can be blamed for if something goes wrong with them.  Unfortunately, nobody ever really grew up through having no (or even few) responsibilities in their life.  And if your teen is going to be able to survive and thrive out on their own, they are going to need to take on increasingly complex responsibilities as they grow older and develop their mental resources.  After all, this is the stuff that everybody needs to know in life.  Naturally, they are going to whine every time they take on a new responsibility, but whining needs to be something that falls off your back like water off of a duck.  You need to keep your skin thick, and administer tough love when they need it.

To start off, by the time they are teens, your kids should be able to take care of their basic personal grooming and locomotion.  You should also be requiring them to do physical work around the house (such as mowing the lawn, dusting, vacuuming, etc.).  Break down all of the different chores in the house into levels of intellectual difficulty, and these are at the low end.  You should be giving them an allowance for what they do, and compensating them according to the complexity of the job.  Properly cleaning the outside and inside of your car is more complex than sweeping the kitchen floor, after all.  But this is just the beginning.

When your kid starts thinking about getting a job, the real fun begins.  At this stage of the game, introduce them to taxes, and their rights as a worker.  The more they know, and the more they can do about such things, the better prepared they are going to be to demand what they are worth in the workplace.  By 16, they should be capable of handling grocery shopping, staying within budget, and supplying your household with its dietary and sundry needs.