A Book For Every Mom:

I recently read the book “Lose the Cape – Realities from Busy Modern Moms and Strategies to Survive“, written by Alexa Bigwarfe from No Holding Back and Kerry Rivera from Breadwinningmama.   First of all, I just love that title, don’t you?  All of us mothers try to be that “supermom” attempting to juggle so much in our lives, but the authors of this book start it off with a wonderfully encouraging introduction that applies to us all.   Here’s how they end their inspiring words that begin the book:

“So use this book as you like. Pick up some tips. Enjoy a laugh. Recognize you’re not alone when you worry, stress and lose control as a parent. Each chapter touches on a modern mom stress, and we’ve simply tried to acknowledge the journey is crazy, joyful, and unique for every family.

But above all else, we hope you embrace our core message of finding what works for you and your kids. Stop the comparison game, stop beating yourself up, and most importantly, don’t aspire to be “supermom”- just be YOU and Lose the Cape!”

I absolutely love how two moms on opposite coasts of the U.S. worked together to create such an amazing resource filled with open and knowledgeable advice for us all.  Alexa, who is a freelance writer and SAHM and Kerry, who commutes to a full time job, cover all the bases in being a mother in this modern day world of motherhood, through outlining their book in 11 Modern Stresses mothers face today.

Modern Mom Stress No. 1 ……………..New Mommy Worries.  They discuss the typical worries and challenges of new moms, and assure you through each taxing decision that there truly is no right or wrong way to parent.  They tackle such topics as breast versus bottle, diaper debacles, separation anxiety in moms, our lovely new mom bodies, and just when and how to dive back into intimacy.

Modern Mom Stress No. 2 ……………..The Morning Routine.   They discuss all the trials of rushed and ragged morning routines and share several coping strategies to make those mornings run more efficiently.

Modern Mom Stress No. 3 ……………..Feeding Your Crew. The glorious ever challenging conundrum of feeding your tribe!  Alexa and Kerry tackle this one with some great ideas about meal planning and how to deal with the picky eaters in your family, as well as some good tricks of the trade that will make your meal time more manageable.

Modern Mom Stress No. 4 ……………..The Family Calendar.  The over-scheduled life of busy families can surely be stressful!  In this chapter they address some insightful ways to make decisions about priorities and how to organize your hectic life to make it all run smoother.

Modern Mom Stress No. 5 ……………..Tackling Those Pesky Chores.  Oh the ongoing chores moms have when raising children!  I love the advice in this chapter, about various cleaning ideas and organizational strategies.  Every mom will manage her household differently, and this chapter shares some varying perspectives and tips on this.

Modern Mom Stress No. 6 ……………..The Spouse Factor.  Parenting is truly about both parents, and this chapter includes encouragement in working together as a team in raising your children and in doing so, there is a mighty lift of stress and a happier family all around.  Together, there can be successful communication and support for each other in raising your kids.  You and your spouse can help each other and take that much needed time for yourselves and your relationship too.  This chapter offers suggestions on how to do just that.

Modern Mom Stress No. 7 ……………..Going It Alone.  I love that they add this chapter, because I know so many women who are single and parenting their children alone.  This area is a much needed part of all parenting books, and they did a beautiful job addressing what must be some incredible stressors of a single mom.

Modern Mom Stress No. 8 ……………..Forming Your Mom Squad.  Motherhood can truly be isolating and lonely.  In this chapter, they encourage moms to reach out and find support and friendships with other moms who can be a part of their lives. They even identify the types of friends every mom needs and the ones we don’t need!

Modern Mom Stress No. 9 …………..Distractions! -Including the Social Media Time Suck. Need I say more?  They help us implement a way to balance it all.

Modern Mom Stress No. 10 ……………Keeping Bedtime Routines Manageable.  Ah, the dreaded end of the day meltdowns, when we moms officially run out of steam!  This chapter gives such great ideas on how to make it run more smoothly!

Modern Mom Stress No. 11 …………….Finding “Me” Time.  I  love how they end with this chapter….  we all need to etch out this time for ourselves DAILY, if we can.  Moms need to care for themselves through rest, exercise, and things that bring them JOY.  This chapter shares both the encouragement and the guidance in doing just that.

As I was reading through each modern Mom Stress chapter, I found myself nodding along with the descriptions of all the challenges.  Either I remembered many of those earlier days or I still deal with some of the struggles they described now.   A lot of research and experience is in this book, guiding us all through the trenches of parenting and through it, we can gain a much better understanding of all that goes into each area and learn some new ideas on how to handle it all.

I especially loved how it was so well organized into these sections of parenting, which makes it easy to look up specific issues you may need to address.  I recommend this book to any moms in any season of motherhood, who need some wise and experienced counsel along the way, with no expectations of being a supermom, just support for being really super- just as you are.  You and your family will make your own decisions that work for you, but this book gives you some excellent information on many of those decisions you will face.

“…we hope you recognize you’re not alone, While it may appear the mom across the street ‘has it all together,’ chances are she too is wrestling with certain frustrations. Our families, our kids, our individual circumstances make our respective journeys unique, and as such, we all need to find our own paths to making family life work.”

I’m honored to have received a digital copy, so I can share my honest opinion of this wonderful book!  You can buy the book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.