Customer Reviews

The Balanced Mom: Raising Your Kids Without Losing Your Self

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There is not a single mom in this world who couldn't benefit from this book. Whether you're a stay-at-home mom, a working-outside-the-home mom, an older mom, a brand new mom, a mother of one or a mother of six, Bria Simpson has captured the lessons we all need to be reminded of so that we can be great people as well as great moms. Motherhood is the most important undertaking of our lives, and the author understands this. What she also understands is that great moms are also great women, and that we too often lose ourselves in the rush of carpools, soccer games, work, daycare, homework, laundry, meetings, doctor's visits, etc etc.

The great thing about this book is that the tips offered can be put into practice the day you read them. In fact, the ones I found most helpful are really simple things I theoretically knew were correct, but had somehow managed to let slide as I got more and more carried away by the kid-tide! We often just need a gentle nudge to do what we already know is good for us. That's what this book gives you. It also gave me new ideas on how to better my parenting skills, as well as my relationship with my husband. Probably the most important thing this book helps you do is take stock of your day-to-day life so that you can start making some critical choices about how you spend your time. I will buy it for all the moms I care about this coming Mother's Day.

This book doesn't offer any recommendations for putting any of the advice re: better self-care in place except to suggest perhaps brewing your own coffee at home to save money to hire all the help one needs to make it all a reality. For those of us who already believe "if mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy" & set our coffee makers to brew for the morning promptly after getting our babies to sleep for the night, who would like nothing better than a regular date night with our husbands, some quality alone time, and regular refreshing breaks from our kids, this is a frustrating time-waster.

Perhaps much of this book's advice is better suited to mothers of older children who have enough disposable income to hire babysitters *and* housekeepers *and* take yoga classes *and* get monthly massages *and* take mini-vacations alone, etc..

The answer, I'm sorry to say (because it is far less satisfactory than blaming mothers for suffering martyrdom complexes & suggesting yoga to help mothers feel more "balanced") is a widespread cultural change that makes affordable child care the norm, and helps men & women shoulder the burdens of raising their children more evenly. A much more worthwhile read is "Perfect Madness: Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety" by Judith Warner.

I give "The Balanced Mom" two stars simply for acknowledging that motherhood is incredibly hard work and those doing that work need to be valued (and value themselves for doing it), which means taking necessary breaks for sustainable self-care.

Being a Mom of 4 my life always feels our of balance. This book has such great tips and ideas for helping me try to put my life back in balance. I liked that it is a very easy read. I can read a few pages, put it down, and easily get back into it without having to read half the book over to figure out what I was reading last. Many of the ideas are easy to incorporate into your life. It like that the chapters are short and very well organized. If I find there's a part of my life that needs a little bit more balance I can easily just go to that chapter and find great ideas. I read the whole book through in 1 day and that was with many many interruptions from my kids and husband. Now as I work on different areas of my life I plan to focus more on the different chapters that pertain to those areas. I recommend this book to anyone who would like to try to put more balance into their lives. There are so many tips and ideas that I think everyone will find a few things in the book that will help I also like that she stresses that what works one day may not work another. I've read a lot of books about stress relief and getting organized and putting balance into your life and so many of them have such rigid routines or complicated plans that the book ends up being another source of stress. I don't find that with this book. Quick tips that help!!

This book is fantastic and a must-read for all moms, especially new moms trying to figure it all out. I have a toddler and I wish I had read this book when she was first born - especially with your first child you can tend to fall into the "mommy martyr" trap and convince yourself that you have to spend every waking moment with your child but then wind up resenting your husband (who gets to go to work and be "free"!) or even the baby. This book has concise and practical steps for climbing out of that trap that we ALL fall into. Short chapters are the best part! Even if you pick up the book, make it through a few chapters and then forget about it for a few weeks, you can always come back to it and enjoy it just the same. I'll read it again when I have my next baby. Possibly the best value of any of the parenting guides out there. Put down the "What to Expect" book and pick up this one.

Some of this book is definitely geared toward more seasoned moms with older/multiple children. But, I thoroughly enjoyed it as a first time mom. I read it when my baby was a few months old, and really appreciated the short yet meaningful chapters. If you can only find maybe 10-15 mins to read each day, this is a great book for you! I'm looking forward to reading it again when I have more time.

This book changed my life! It gave me the insight into what it takes to balance my life. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for some straight forward advice on how to to have it all. Of course, we all know this isn't possible, but this books inspires us to try. It's a quick read and one I will be keeping in my nightstand for reference.

I really enjoyed this book - much of it is common sense but the author has a way of saying things that motivates you to do the things you know you need to do. I think the most valuable point she makes is about prioritizing spending money on babysitters so you get alone time or date nights. Almost every parent I know feels guilty about doing this and always say they can't afford it. She makes the point to look at where you spend your money and ask the question - does it truly reflect what you value? In other words, most of us won't think twice about spending it on clothes or on another activity for our children but won't spent it on untangible things like babysitting help.

The only reason it didn't get 4 stars is because the bulleted lists got a little irritating after awhile. I understand she was making it easy to read and to the point for busy moms but I still felt like it could have been written in prose style.

Quick, informative, and why-didn't-I-think-of-that strategies to having it all: supermom, superwife and superself. This book is not just about moms, it's about women.

The Balanced Mom is an easy to follow, step by step guide to help moms find the delicate balance between work, family and self. Broken down into manageable bite sized chunks makes the tips and suggestions realistic enough to incorporate into mom's already overly extended day. Any mom will benefit when they learn how to more effectively balance their lives. This book helps to show them how. Debi Silber (Registered Dietitian, Certified Personal Trainer, Whole Health Coach)

I highly recommend this book - a manual, reference guide, best friend! Bria Simpson in The Balanced Mom has given me permission to do and not do things that have made a significant improvement in my new life as a first-time mom (toddler son now 20 mos): to arrange my events and responsibilities according to my own values (never did that before), to say no! (been hard but getting better), to take baby steps toward taking care of myself and finding creative opportunities to do so in the busiest and most exhaustive time of my life, to gently work through the emotions (that are all ACCEPTABLE and NATURAL and NORMAL) as I adjust to my "Past life" and current roles, and to keep the lines of communication open and pertinent with my husband and other key relationships. I have noticed in a few weeks that as I follow her suggestions and feel that IT'S OKAY TO BE GOOD TO ME - with even a fraction of the zeal with which I take care of the baby - I am feeling BETTER. I found specific tips and advice to overcome my specific challenges - how tough it's been staying motivated sometimes, getting to do the smallest things (read, write, watch an Adult DVD - make a cup of hot chocolate, visit a friend who just had a baby) that feed the other parts of my brain beside the mothering part of my soul. Bria Simpson makes it easy in this book of quick tips with a very honest, direct way of talking with the reader. I feel like she's the voice of reason helping me see through the clouds of total-baby-focus - it feels good to look up and see all the other parts of life light up. Like the airlines say, if you're traveling with an infant or child - always put your own oxygen mask on first. This book helps you find the pseudo-"approval" we moms need to give ourselves to put whatever kind of oxygen mask we need on, so we can be our best - our fullest -- and recharge to GIVE our best when needed. It's arranged for moms with kids of all ages so I recommend it to everyone. Even if you think you've got everything under control, why not find a little opening you didn't expect and get a surprise treat? Also makes a great gift - been telling everyone about it. Bria Simpson also has a great Website, www.briacoach.com