Today marks the end of our book club! Hope you've enjoyed your reading of
Cleaning House and have some new insights and tools to carry forth with you on your parenting journey. And if you're still reading. . . well, you have some summer projects to work on :-)
We didn't do any of the actual projects here at my house. My brain just doesn't work that way, and I needed way more than a week to dive into these ideas. Procrastination? Nah. Processing. Slow, slow processing.
The journey of reading, however, was full of small epiphanies and insights into not only my kids' behaviors but my very own. I think it all really hit home the day I went to pay the credit card bill and realized that I was
25 minutes past the deadline. And if there's anything I hate, it is unnecessary fees. Late fees rank right up there at the top of the list. It is amazing the amount of shame and guilt I can feel over this one little blip on my perfectionistic radar. I immediately began to rationalize why the company should extend grace, because we all know this about credit card companies, right? They are simply waiting for such circumstances, especially for people who always pay their bills every month and henceforth never have interest fees to benefit the company. I had my list of how long I've been a customer and the fact that I've been LOYAL to them. Surely, they knew all of that. Yes, you heard me correctly--
I was entitled to mercy. Never mind the fact that this bill is due on the same day of every month, and that I had written in my calendar to pay it three days prior to those
25 minutes past the deadline. . .
I share all of this simply to say: this whole entitlement thing is worthy of our attention, for it is not just a kid issue. It is a human issue, and we will continue to deal with it our whole life long. So why not help our kiddos out now, while they still have some room to err, still think "experiments" hold some element of adventure, and still have hearts that are a bit more changeable than they will be, say, twenty years from now? I learned we're doing well in some areas, and in others we still have some major work to do. This book was fantastic in helping me evaluate some areas I don't think I would have thought about in equipping my kids before they leave home.
I'm guessing we've all dealt with our share of the current entitled generation, and probably not that long ago. But there is more available for our kids. More to be gained and more to be enjoyed. Let's be willing to sacrifice their momentary pleasure over the hard work of toilet cleaning. . .with a look toward how that will reap a future work ethic (hopefully) that will continue to serve them well over a lifetime.
And, in case you're wondering, turns out the credit card company saw it my way this time. I knew I meant something to them :-)
What were your favorite parts of this book? What changes have you made as a result of reading it?
