If you find your home faced with more demands and less pitching in, you’re not alone.

Mother of five and former businesswoman Kay Wills Wyma launched a 12 month experiment to rid her home of youth entitlement and she offers tips and insights on the importance of interpersonal communication and loving others.

A part of Kay’s experiment involved teaching her kids how to help run errands.

“I didn’t really think about what was entailed in that until I started watching them do it. Of course, I had to kick them out of the car (even though I’d be sitting right in front of whatever the establishment was) and just say, ‘Go out and go do it!’

“What would occur inevitably is them speaking to somebody; which actually made the person they’re speaking to feel better and makes them feel better.They walk out of the car grumpy and crabby and they walk back in enlightened and encouraged to a certain extent. Not because it’s like this some end-all; it’s just regular life.”

Do your children know how to communicate with others?

Kay shares a few examples of how she has walked alongside her children with interpersonal communication.

“I don’t know why they don’t call each other, it’s bizarre! They text and email and that is their mode. But they feel better when they actually talk in person.

“They come in from an errand and I can say, ‘How did that make you feel talking to that person?’  And evidently they say, ‘I really didn’t want to but gosh it made me feel good.’  Then I can say, ‘How about those “likes” and “shares,” how did that make you feel?’ and it doesn’t make them feel good.  So it naturally moves them away from that venue because they like the interpersonal communication better.”

Similar to online gaming, we need to be intentional about the parent-child games we place in our homes.

“Throw some regular board games into your home or card games…anything that involves interpersonal communication, and they love it!

“It’s more fun in many ways; it’s not saying the other is bad, but if that’s all you’re doing on the other then it does lead toward isolation and it does lead people towards aloneness and towards self- centeredness.”

Kay says that self-centeredness is a huge problem within the lines of youth entitlement.

“It makes me think about me and it makes me think that the world revolves around me, and the truth of the matter is no one is happy that way; it’s called narcissism and it’s nothing that brings joy to anyone’s life.

“Loving others really is the secret sauce of life.”

Find out more helpful information about navigating youth entitlement in Kay’s book  .

Highlight: Interpersonal communication

Navigating youth entitlement