Wyma - Cleaning house: a moms 12-month experiment to rid her home of youth entitlement

At last! Enlightenment about entitlement in our kidsand not just what it is, but also what to do about it.

E LISA M ORGAN , author of She Did What She Could, president emerita of MOPS International, and publisher of FullFill

Parents, take note: Kay Wills Wymas experiment could change your life, especially if your kids suffer from me first! syndrome. If you want your children to be more responsible, more self-assured, and more empathetic, Cleaning House is for you.

J IM D ALY , president of Focus on the Family

Cleaning House is both a beautifully told story and a practical guide to parenting in todays complex world.

M ICHAEL G URIAN , best-selling author of The Wonder of Boys and The Wonder of Girls

Cleaning House will be one of the most influential parenting books of our generation. When it comes to directing parents how to raise fabulous kids, Kay Wills Wyma nails it.

M EG M EEKER , MD, author of the national bestseller Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

Cleaning House offers the perfect solution for parents who want to free their children from the entitlement trap. Hilarious stories, amazing creativity, and a huge dose of grace make this book difficult to put down! Kay Wills Wyma paves the way and offers tools to help our families experience the satisfaction and confidence that comes through meaningful work.

S ANDRA S TANLEY , North Point Ministries

In Cleaning House, Kay Wills Wyma has crafted a book that hits home on many levels. Its a case study for any parent who wants to change the entitlement culture among their kids. But at a deeper level, it hits each of us who long to live our daily lives in a way that pleases God.

R ONALD L. H ARRIS , senior vice president of the National Religious Broadcasters

Heres a book designed to help parents get their kids a one-way ticket to reality about responsibility, but it would be great to get voters to read it and apply these simple but brilliant principles to members of Congress!

M IKE H UCKABEE , former Arkansas governor and host of Fox TVs Huckabee and radios Mike Huckabee Show

Cleaning House delivers practical advice, helpful encouragement, and laugh-out-loud moments for weary parents who want to lovingly change the hearts and future of their overly indulged children.

C HUCK B ENTLEY , CEO of Crown Financial Ministries and author of The Root of Riches

For parents who are weary of the Me generation, [this book] provides a practical roadmap to bring your children from entitlement to empowerment. As a parent, grandparent, and school principal, I believe this book will become a favorite of parents and one they will reference frequently.

J ODY C APEHART , co-author of Bonding with Your Teens Through Boundaries

In an age of youth entitlement, this is a must-read for moms who desire to raise godly kids with servant hearts!

J OE W HITE , president of Kanakuk Kamps

This book inspires hope, despair, and then more hope: hope that we can get our kids to do more chores, then despair that no, maybe only Kay can do it (she had a book contract!), then hope againbecause Kay shows us, step by baby step, how to make it happen, in the real world, with real kids.

L ENORE S KENAZY , author of the book and blog Free-Range Kids

With unique creativity and wry humor, this sensible, determined mom herds her five distinctly different offspring into an acute lifestyle change; namely, learning to master the inevitable demands of life. With a spoonful of sugar, Cleaning House cools the dangerous me first fever weakening our American culture.

D R . H OWARD G. H ENDRICKS , distinguished professor emeritus of leadership and Christian education, Dallas Theological Seminary, and J EANNE H ENDRICKS , speaker and author of A Mothers Legacy

C LEANING H OUSE
P UBLISHED BY W ATER B ROOK P RESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. Proverbs 21:5 is taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Details in some anecdotes and stories have been changed to protect the identities of the persons involved.

Copyright 2012 by Kay Wills Wyma

Cover design by Kristopher K. Orr; photography by Joel Strayer

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

W ATER B ROOK and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random House Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wyma, Kay Wills.
Cleaning house : a moms twelve-month experiment to rid her home of youth entitlement / Kay Wills Wyma. 1st ed.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-73068-8
1. Child rearing. 2. Parenting. 3. Pampered child syndrome. 4. Entitlement attitudes. 5. Responsibility in children. 6. Chores. I. Title.
HQ769.W955 2012|
649.1dc23

2012002034

v3.1

This book is dedicated to my husband and kids, who not only put up with and participate in all my harebrained ideas, endure my singing responses to their questions, and tolerate my often-embarrassing yet well-intended actions in front of their friends but also genuinely support their wife and mom with the closest thing to unconditional love this side of heaven.

I am forever grateful.