Rachel Macy Stafford

Pros: author can write...in an engaging and entertaining way. And she hits a few nerves with really good points and reminders about engaging with our children. Cons: the material seems best covered in her blog posts. Stretching it out into a book only rehashes similar points over and over again. Also, too much of the book had nothing to do with what the title sells you on: being hands free. Instead she delves deeply into improving self esteem and body image. By the grace of God I don't struggle as much in these areas as I do in distraction, so much of the book was a waste at best and a complete annoyance at worst. I also sincerely disagreed with some of her assessments about priorities, assessments she presented as unequivocal facts instead of her opinions. And for a woman who claims faith, 95% of the book is about what YOU must do (which honestly made me feel more stress as I listened to the audiobook). There is very little mention about seeking first God's priorities, whether they nest with yours or not.… (mais)

I downloaded this book in audio for a long car trip and while I keep turning it on when I'm on the long stretches of road with no access to a network, I don't know that I would necessarily recommend this book. It is sappy and full of clichés that don't necessarily resonate in the page after page of cheesy epiphanies. I also was really turned off by how religious this book ended up being with way too may references to how the epiphanies were pretty much gifts from god. It just completely detracted from the message for me. The only potentially good thing is that this book tries to give tips and activities that can be put into action which could be helpful. Overall this book wasn't bad, just not grounded in anything substantial so it was hard to take it seriously. I will likely only continue to read (listen) when I'm back on the road and have no other options.… (mais)

My first exposure to this author was a piece in the Huffington Post called : The Important Thing About Yelling and I really liked it, so when I saw Stafford's book on NetGalley, I went for it.

This book wasn't great, but it wasn't awful either. It just kind of ... was. I know that 'meh' isn't an incredibly helpful review, nevertheless, that's what I feel about this book. I don't know if I've been overindulging in these types of parenting/lifestyle change books, I don't know if it's because I'm reading The Happiness Project right now, where I feel much more connected to the narrator, I don't know if the market is just saturated right now with 'let go of the little things and live for what's important!!!!'-type advice books... I suspect it's a combination of all these things.

The narrator didn't speak to me. Which is odd because I suspect we're from the same little corner of Alabama, ... except I'm not really from Alabama... I wasn't prepared for this book to be religious. But page after page I was smacked in the face with the phrase 'God given gifts' and praise and thanks to god that made this book come across as more religious than secular. That's fine, but it wasn't what I was expecting or looking for.

The tone of the book was better suited for a blog rather than a whole book, the author uses no empirical evidence for her theories, nor does she seemed to have done any research into studies on better child-rearing, etc. All accounts are strictly personal and anecdotal. There are a few key phrases that crop up in the writing way too often, it made the writing seem a little lazy, like the author couldn't be bothered to think of a different phrase.

Again, this book isn't bad, it just wasn't for me. I think that there are too many other good books on this topic out there.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.… (mais)