AUDIOBOOK REVIEW: Cleaning House by Kay Wills Wyma

Sensing that her five kids are descending into selfishness and complacency, Kay Wills Wyma decides to embark on a year-long “experiment” to rid her house of the youth entitlement attitude, chronicling the journey in Cleaning House.   She tackles a different task each month from laundry to manners to serving others.  Her kids, ranging in age from 3 to 14 even learn to shop, cook, and run errands.  Along the way Wyma pontificates about the current state of society, the role of parents, and her own hang-ups and insecurities, sometimes stopping to throw in a dash of spiritual insight here and there.

Speaking of spiritual insight, scripture references are few and far between in Cleaning House, particularly during the first third of the book.  There are probably less than a dozen mentions of God or Jesus throughout, with some of these mentions bordering on being trite.  As a result, the spiritual aspect of the book feels a little tacked-on sometimes.

This is one of those books that ramp up as it goes along, however, and Wyma seems to hit her stride in the second half of the book.  Highlights include her struggle with her husband to let their teenage son help with handy-man tasks when the husband just wants to do it himself, and having each kid plan and host a party so they learn hospitality.

Some of the stories of her kids wrestling with “the experiment” are downright hilarious, made even more so by the brilliant narration of Tavia Gilbert.  Gilbert does different voices for each of the kids, making the discussions and arguments come alive.  She also affects a southern drawl for some other characters who wander through the story.  Charming and effective narration.

This book seems to be written primarily for women.  Despite this, I really enjoyed it and learned a lot of principles I want to put into practice with my own three boys.  Especially helpful were the practical tips and ideas submitted by readers of Wyma’s blog and others.  I recommend this book for any parent who wants to raise their kids to be responsible, respectful adults.  It could be a great weapon in your arsenal for the war against entitlement.

Please Note: This audiobook was gifted as a part of the christianaudio Reviewers Program in exchange for my unbiased review of this work. This has in no way influenced my opinion or review of this work.  More information can be found about this and other Christian audiobooks at christianaudio.com.