Book Review: Cleaning House

I just finished reading the book, "Cleaning House: A Mom's 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement." by Kay Wills Wyma.  In this book the author gives her readers a first-hand look into her family and her home.  She wrote about both the good and the bad of the experiment, about the reluctant attitudes and the surprisingly upbeat attitudes and about the successes and the failures of the experiment.  Over the course of the year she sought to teach her five children, ages 4 to 14, how to become more responsible and more independent in areas of cleaning their bedrooms, learning to plan a menu, shop, cook and clean-up the kitchen, outdoor landscaping and clean-up, searching for employment, cleaning the bathroom, doing the laundry, simple home repair, planning a party and extending hospitality, working together, running errands, serving others and learning and using manners.  


This book took me longer to read than others.  It contained a lot of information and sometimes I found myself absorbing some of the information over several days and often sharing highlights with my husband.  As a mother of three, ages 3 to 10, I found myself sympathizing with the author's challenges and cheering her on in her endeavor to teach her children responsibility.  The book is peppered with a few quotes and scriptures that I thoroughly enjoyed .  I applaud her efforts and determination to push through to the end of the year long experiment and to share it with the rest of us.


I would recommend this book to anyone looking for insight on ways to involve their children in the household operations.  I found that I especially enjoyed the chapters the author focused on kitchen chores, hospitality, service and manners.  Besides the information I took away to help teach my own children about responsibility and independence, I was inspired to grow in a few areas of my own.  Here is a highlight from my favorite chapter on hospitality: "One of the secrets to hospitality is that people are just excited for an excuse to get together.  They don't care about the timing, the food, the theme, the decor, the [fill in the blank]. They just love to be included, welcomed, and cared for."


You can check out the first chapter of Cleaning House for free by following this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/84567050/Cleaning-House-by-Kay-Wills-Wyma-Chapter-1-Excerpt

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.