Cleaning House by Kay Willis Wyma

NEW FAVORITE BOOK!!!!!!! I'm not giving my copy away to anyone!!! I just finished reading Cleaning House by Kay Wyma. I have been reading it for a few weeks -- not because it is boring or hard to read, but because I wanted to soak it all in and implement her ideas! This is a wonderful book about parenting/preparing kids to be adults.

As a parent, my goal is to prepare my children to be successful, responsible adults as far as it is up to me. Yes, I like to see my children succeed, but not so much that I will do their projects for them, write their speeches for them, etc. What better time is there for them to learn and grow through failure or imperfection than when they are children, dependent on their parents, and in a loving and helping environment? I'd rather they learn those lessons now than when they're grown and on their own!

Kay Wyma's book chronicles a year of "The Experiment" in which each month brought new and additive chores/responsibilities to each child in her family. They began with the responsibility of making beds/cleaning bedroom floor (read that chapter for her great and super-easy method of enticement!)and added different skills/jobs every month such as meal preparation, hospitality, outdoor work, shopping/errand running, and others. The book is an entertaining, easy read that gives wonderful suggestions and encouragement for those who wish to enable their children in this way (I'm using the term "enable" in the sense that they are learning to do these important tasks so that they will be ABLE to do them easily on their own, not in the sense that the parent does everything for the child and "enables" their lazy behavior!) I really believe it is doing your children a great service to allow them to learn these things while young and make them a normal part of family life.

My children are not teenagers yet, but we also require much of the same things of them. The book gave me some more ideas and areas to work with them also. The author writes as if she is your friend/neighbor, someone "normal" like you (haha, I'm laughing at myself -- of course I am the normal one, right?!) :) and is a joy to read. I will actually be re-reading this and using more of her ideas.

One little side note, the author did mention that her husband was not on the same level of interest in this as she was (sound familiar?!) and she was VERY respectful of him in her mention of this. One statement she made which I thought was very appropriate and God-honoring is "Respect for my husband is more important than having things go my way." How often do we come up with a wonderful idea and if our husband doesn't share the urgency we think something is wrong with him? Good job Kay Wyma in your inclusion of this marriage principal!

I definitely recommend this book to parents with children of all ages!

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review. I was not requried to write a positive review.