We have our grand daughter living with us and when she first arrived she expected us to wait on her hand and foot. She discovered we weren't going to, and didn't have the foggiest how to clean her room. When I saw this little book with DVD I bought it for her. She now helps me clean the house, which is a pleasure at my age. It has wipe off pages, which I can or she even can write extra chores on and wipe off after they are completed. This is something that she will be able to use for years to come or until she is in a routine of keeping her room and the house neat, tidy, and clean. Then she can pass it on to someone else who could use it or even keep it for her own children when she has some. The only thing I wish it had was a section for outside chores, then it would be totally complete.

my wife and I found this helpful in teaching our kids cleaning. unfortunately it seems the newest edition does not come with the advertised dvd, i was send a replacement copy without a dvd as well.

This is a very good idea, and fairly well done. I'm using this with my three youngest kids, ages 7, 5, and 4. It would work for any age, all the way up to adulthood. My oldest does the flip chart all on her own, I help the 5yo with some items, and the 4yo and I share a zone. As with most things, there are both good and bad aspects of it. I'll highlight some of them.

The Good:

I love that it comes with a DVD for the kids to watch, to help them learn how to clean.

The pages are heavy card stock, so they'll hold up under lots of use.

There are large, clear, attractive pictures for each step, so my young non-readers are able to mark off their jobs.

Tasks are broken down into easily manageable steps, so that the job isn't overwhelming.

The step-by-step procedure is easy to follow, and for the most part it makes sense.

It allows me to change who has what zone, by writing the child's name on the first page of his zone. Right now, we're going to try having each child have a zone for one month, and then switch everyone.

The Bad:

The marker does not wipe off of the pages well at all. After the second day, there was a hole worn in one of the checkmark squares. I've found that the only way to make it work is to use rubbing alcohol on toilet paper each time.

The DVD is rushed. For some jobs, it shows the child doing the whole job, but for other chores, it barely shows anything, and skips several things, like cleaning toilets and showers. It's a great idea, and a great start, but they could have put more instruction into it.

Some steps are in a strange order. For example, they have the child straightening the chairs before mopping the floor, cleaning the sinks before toilets, and straightening up items on the bathroom counters before wiping them down.

In the kitchen zone, it never asks for the sink to be cleaned, and it tells them to place items in the sink but never tells them to wash them or put them into the dishwasher. Of course you'd think the kids would realize that that needs to be done, but if everything else is on the checklist, it would be nice if that was as well.

This is more a matter of preference, but there are some jobs I'd rather have done more often, and other jobs that I'd have them do less often. There is nothing they can do to fix this, because different households require different routines, and there's no way they'd be able to make everyone happy.

In all, I like this program very much. If they could allow us to download it, edit it, and print it out, it would really allow for customization. Then, I could have it laminated myself and maybe then the dry-erase markers would work better.