Welcome to Be Our Guest Fridays!

Be Our Guest Fridays is a weekly feature where I feature guest posts by my favorite bloggers and authors. I started this feature as a fun way to give back to the blogging community. I are excited to share with you these creative, inspiring and knowledgeable bloggers.

I met Jaime from Love Jaime through November’s NaBloPoMo and she’s a fellow NC Blogger Network Member. She lives in Asheville, NC, one of my favorite cities in NC in the beautiful mountains and home of The Biltmore. I’m so happy to have her share with us how she’s trying to use the lessons she learned from reading Hands Free Mama to improve her parenting. Thanks Jaime for being my guest today! 

Disconnecting To Reconnect: A Review of Hands Free Mama

by Jaime from Love, Jaime

I recently did a post on the book Hands Free Mama by Rachel Macy Stafford, and my quest to be more hands free this year. I am a work in progress, that is for sure.

I recommend this book for any parent. Regardless if your child is 3 months old or 30 years old, you will be able to identify with at least one of the author’s stories.

Technology is a huge part of life. In my previous job, I was a full-time web developer and I was on-call so much. One time, long before I was married, I kept my laptop in my bed so if I was called in the middle of the night, I had access. (And that happened once – when Saddam Hussein was captured.)

We use the iPad for movies and occasionally games – my son uses it for a couple of games. We use our phones for everything from texting to searches to recipes to tracking our meals for the day. I even use my phone as my primary alarm clock.

I know I’m not the only parent out there that does this. I do want to reduce the amount of time I’m connected. Hands Free Mama helped me get started to a less distracted life.

The book focuses on finding the positive side of yourself. How often do you find yourself hurrying your child? Or saying “no, not right now” or “wait a minute”? I find myself in a rush daily and I’m working on slowing down. I hate constantly telling my boy to “hurry up.” It’s not his fault that I’m running late.

Stafford focuses on slowing down and grasping what matters in your life.

Each chapter has a set of questions. The book isn’t meant to be read in one sitting. You could read a chapter and work on that part of your life for a week or a month – whatever it takes. Or you could be anxious like myself and read the entire book in a week, and work on the different assignments and questions all at once.

Every now and then, when I begin to doubt myself or realize that I’m slipping back into the control of my phone, I take another look at this book. I’ve been using it as a reference for the past several months.

As I said, I’m a work in progress.

Have you read ‘Hands Free Mama’? Do you live a distraction-free life?

About Jaime

Jaime is a wife, mom, cat-mom, runner and self-proclaimed crafty person. Her blog has been around for 10 years and is a lifestyle blog that covers everything from family to fitness to travel and food.

Follow Jaime on her blog | Facebook | Google + | Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter

Thanks Jaime for sharing your thoughts on Hands Free Mama, I have been wanting to read this book. So much information is available on screens and at our fingertips these days, it’s easy to get sucked in and distracted. I have been keeping track of of my daily goals in my planner and the time I spend on various activities during the day (including my blog) in a notebook. It’s really helped me stay focused on what I need to accomplish during any given day. Admittedly, I too am totally a work in progress. My hands and arms need to be free for more important things like hugging my kids!

This post shared with Book Nook Friday, and SITS Sharefest Saturday.

What do you do to balance your screen time with time with family?