My rating: 4 of 5 stars
It took me some time to read this because I originally borrowed this book from the public library and then didn't get a chance to read it. Every time I went back to borrow t again it was either reserved or checked out! Glad I came back to reading it because it is filled with humor and many truths about today's youth feeling entitled.
The 'Experiment' focuses on one life learning area per month, making this a year long endeavor. At first I thought this may be 'b-o-r-i-n-g' to read about, but Mrs. Wyma writes with humor and I could totally relate to her children's attitudes.
The focus areas include the following life lessons: Beds and Clutter, Cooking (menu planning, shopping & washing dishes), The Outdoors (weeding, planting), Working/Employment, Domestic Dirty Jobs (think bathrooms), Laundry, Handyman/DIY, Party Planning/Hospitality, Teamwork, Errands, Service For Others, and Manners.
By looking at that list of twelve areas you may think 'that's all common sense'. I kind of thought that too, but then thought about some of the things my kids do or say. If your children don't have to do certain tasks, what makes you think that they're intently watching you do said task so they know how to do it? Chances are they're not watching you intently and they don't know how to do said task. You will see that clearly when you read this book, as well as paying more attention to the little things in your child's own daily life.
I have tried little experiments with my kids throughout this book (lunch packing, loading/unloading the dishwasher, cleaning up after a meal, etc.) I can tell you this, my kids need to learn to do more for themselves and this book was a great jump start for me to teach more daily life lessons.
I did not know that Mrs. Wyma started a blog before she got this book deal. I will be going back to look at past entries from her blog, as well as keeping up with her present entries. You can find her at www.theMOATblog.com. Keep teaching your children; they are our future!
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First of all... THANKS so much for reading and reviewing Cleaning House. Second ... I totally agree w/you on the common sense thing. Crazy that we needed a jump start in our house to realize it had been left in the car with a few bags of forgotten groceries. :) And last - thrilled to be walking the road with you. Thanks again.
ReplyDelete-Kay Wyma
Thank you Kay for replying to my post! You're the very first author to do that and I greatly appreciate it! Looking forward to keeping up with your blog and possible more books in your future! :-)
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