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Heard on the Summer-Job Street
As usual, be careful if you are friends with me, let alone related, because I just might be compelled to share your story.
This one I’m super excited to share, not because it’s fun to hear that this family (my brother and sister-in-law) is working, but because they’re experiencing the same thing we are … kids that, once they’re pitching in, can’t stop themselves from trying to find more ways to help.
I watched it just the other day in my kitchen when a super moan-y child slow-walked all the way to the dishwasher, complaining with every shuffle that it was “not [his] turn to do the dishes!!” and the he “did them yesterday!!” Of course that goes nowhere with me because not only were the dishes done yesterday, they were washed that morning, too. It never ends. (Another nice 
Summer is just around the corner. What to do … What to do….
Instead of a guest blog, the rest of the posts this week will focus on ways to fill free summer time with productivity. Productivity and creativity. Creativity and problem solving. Problem solving and independence … and fun. Because what can be more fun than bringing home some hard earned cash, no matter the age (and amount. I’m just sayin’. Listen a quarter is a big deal to Jack. Holding them is all he needs. Hmmmm…. might have more to do with his hoarding tendencies. But that’s another story.)
Today’s terrific information comes from Focus on the Family’s Thriving Family Magazine. In the Summer 2012 issue is a terrific article on helping kids become entrepreneurs. In 
Today’s Table Talk (guest post) is by our wonderful friend Kathleen Fischer (mom, author, speaker, life trainer – for kids and parents). She has been so kind to share from her vast resource of wisdom since the beginning of themoatblog.
Thanks for being an encouragement to us in-the-trenches moms, Kathleen, … and thanks for walking the road with me.
-Kay
(the girls – I’m taking Snopes & Barton, a.k.a. Speed Police & Sister, with me - and I will post pics from our little NYC excursion to Fox & Friends tomorrow!… so exciting… and a little scary :)
UPDATE!!!! … DUE TO BREAKING NEWS, OUR FOX & FRIENDS INTERVIEW WILL BE TAPED TOMORROW RATHER THAN LIVE … THEY WILL LET US KNOW LATER TOMORROW WHEN IT WILL AIR.
(I’ll still be taking pictures to share while we’re 
Today is a big day at the Moatblog (okay a HUGE day). When I started the Moatblog, I never intended to opine on Youth Entitlement, or do anything more than provide a place for moms tired in the trenches to find a spot of respite … and encouragement … and commiseration. Who knew it would become a book?! But the story has become a book whose birthday is TODAY!!
Here’s a little recipe to inspire the weak-kneed, like me, when I get tired of pushing the kids toward greatness … okay, so maybe laundry isn’t “greatness”, but it’s a step.
GG’s Entitlement-Bustin’ Souffle
Take one mild to chronically over-served child (willingness not required… often action precedes feeling.)
Stir in some meaningful work – Start small (making beds, clearing clutter) and gradually add more challenges and greater responsibility (washing dishes, doing laundry, caulking a bathtub, obtaining gainful employment, …) Rewards recommended.
Sprinkle mixture with large quantities of serving others, humility and hard- work (I mean really… how can folding and putting away your sister’s underwear be described any other way?!). 
Today’s Table Talk is by Jody Capehart, one of our
Someone asked me the other day about the way we have financially incentivized our kids on our road to enabling-recovery. It was in a bit of a judgmental manner, slightly appalled that we would pay our kids for making their beds – a task that I agree should need no incentive. But as I’ve said before, and will most certainly say again, we set the bar limbo-low around here.
My response was, “You bet we pay them. Why not?”
My sassy question back begged lengthy dissertations on the merits of teaching a child how to be a part of a family, helping out without incentives – all of which I’m sure I could use. But, let me tell you what has happened around here since cash entered the picture.
Rather than take their money and spend, almost every kid has been growing their stash. One 13-year-old has her eye on a car that 