I just finished reading Cleaning House: A Mom’s 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement by Kay Wills Wyma and oh my goodness it was good!
This book is about a woman with five kids ages four to fourteen who is “dismayed at the attitude of entitlement that has crept into her home.” Basically she’s sick and tired of her kids acting like the world revolves around them and that they’re entitled to a free ride. So she embarks on a year long journey of whipping her kids into shape, so to speak.
She basically picks one important life skill each month for her kids to take responsibility of hoping to equip them with a strong work ethic, self-confidence through a job well done and concern for others along the way.
Here is the schedule she follows:
Task 1 – Operation Clutter Control (Making Beds and Picking Up)
Task 2 – Kitchen Patrol (Cooking)
Task 3 – Grounding Time (Outdoor Duties)
Task 4 – Working for a Living (Employment)
Task 5 – Domestic Dirty Jobs (Cleaning Toilets)
Task 6 – Roll Tide (Laundry)
Task 7 – The Handyman Can…or Can He? (Fixing What’s Broken)
Task 8 – The Entertainers (Hospitality)
Task 9 – Team Players (Working Together)
Task 10 – Runner’s World (Errands)
Task 11 – It’s About Other’s (Service)
Task 12 – Lades and Gentlemen (Manners)
Following along with Kay as she strives to instill responsibility and a strong work ethic into her entitled children is entertaining and motivating. I’m so glad I got ahold of this book before I have grown kids. I want to raise them to consider others, be respectful and work hard and this book inspires me to do so! I highly recommend reading it! 🙂
You can read the first chapter of Cleaning House here. Also, for more info and to learn how Kay’s journey began you can visit her blog here.
Oh and I have been having problems with my google account, but it let me follow your blog via twitter through your GFC, who knew you could even do that?!