Cleaning your house of youth entitlement

kwillia

kwillia

n/a
One day after morning carpool, Kay Wills Wyma walked through the front door and assessed the state of her home.

With five kids, things are expected to be out of place every now-and-then. But what Wyma witnessed was beyond tolerable.

The kids' beds were not made, their dirty dishes were out, and laundry and clutter was scattered throughout their rooms.

"Who knows how many weeks they had been disrobing and discarding, thinking it would be picked up, cleaned, washed, put away -- all of those kinds of things."

So Wyma threw in the towel and decided to make a change to what she calls her "enabling mother" style. It was no longer working.

She immediately came up with 12 things she wanted her kids -- who range in ages from 6 to 16 -- to know, and be able to do, before leaving home. Her plan turned into a family-wide experiment that is now published in her book, "Cleaning House: A Mom's 12-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement."


http://wtop.com/1226/3371523/Cleaning-your-house-of-youth-entitlement
 
my-thyme

my-thyme

..if momma ain't happy...
Patron
All three of my boys are more than capable of cooking.

Cleaning, well....I don't have to live with them any longer, so it's up to their women to make them pick up after themselves now.
 
Dakota

Dakota

~~~~~~~
One day last year, I lost my temper so badly, I shut the power off to the house. I've never seen them work so hard to get their chores done. They were scrubbing the bathroom by candle light. :biggrin: Ever since, they know I mean business when I say get your chores done. The power stayed off for 3-4 hours until I got annoyed and turned it back on.
 
ginwoman

ginwoman

Well-Known Member
Dakota said:
One day last year, I lost my temper so badly, I shut the power off to the house. I've never seen them work so hard to get their chores done. They were scrubbing the bathroom by candle light. :biggrin: Ever since, they know I mean business when I say get your chores done. The power stayed off for 3-4 hours until I got annoyed and turned it back on.
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Dakota - stupid question...how did you shut the power off?
 
Dakota

Dakota

~~~~~~~
vraiblonde said:
Okay, that is BRILLIANT! :notworthy I used to just yell and scream; wish I'd thought to pop the breaker instead. :yay:
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:bowing:

Gin,

My main breaker is in my garage so I just turned the main breaker to the house off. Of course resetting all the clocks was a P.I.T.A. afterwards but it was well worth it watching them move so fast. They were downstairs telling me the power was out 5 seconds after I hit the switch.. like duh!!! :biggrin:
 
terbear1225

terbear1225

Well-Known Member
I have reached the point of having to say "if you treat your toys/ clothes/ whatever like trash I will throw it away." Cant stand the sight of toys all over the floor anymore
 
ginwoman

ginwoman

Well-Known Member
Dakota said:
:bowing:

Gin,

My main breaker is in my garage so I just turned the main breaker to the house off. Of course resetting all the clocks was a P.I.T.A. afterwards but it was well worth it watching them move so fast. They were downstairs telling me the power was out 5 seconds after I hit the switch.. like duh!!! :biggrin:
Click to expand...


You prolly had a big old smile on your face whilst you were going around resetting the clocks! I would have!
 
bcp

bcp

In My Opinion
I have shut off the well pump when showers were taking way too long in my opinion.
Nothing says win more than hearing someone screaming from the bathroom that the water stopped and their hair isn't rinsed.
 
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