" This book came highly recommended and I approached it with an open, teachable attitude. During the first section I found myself nodding my head in agreement, ready to incorporate all the Eyres' suggestions into my family life. But as the book went on and details of "the family economy" piled up, I found so many things that wouldn't work in our home. For one thing, my kids are too old to start such an all-encompassing program; they wouldn't respond well to overturning the way we do absolutely everything. Other things I found myself flat-out disagreeing with. For instance, as part of the "family economy" the authors advocate paying kids to do their music practicing. I worry that they would then develop an expectation of being paid, and would feel like it was no longer worth it to practice when they were off at college with no one to hand out cash for playing. And yet the Eyres are dead-set against paying students for A's on their report card, which to me is more reflective of the natural world -- excelling in your job often will earn you bonuses and raises. I did love their suggestion of taking the kids on a humanitarian service trip to a third world country.
The Entitlement Trap did force me to think a lot about how I am raising my children. They definitely have a lot of material advantages, and I do worry about spoiling them. Though we don't make them buy their own clothes (I'm just not willing to do this, because dressing them stylishly is something I love to do!), we do have a system where they earn money for keeping up their "zones" of the home, fixing dinners for the family, etc. And I feel that all three girls are quite good at taking ownership of their own grades, choices, and bodies, which the second half of the book focuses on. Honestly, the financial side of things is the only part that is a concern for me. But not a big enough concern to take the drastic step of implementing the Eyres' complex plan as presented in this book. "
— Tanya, 12/28/2013