Bethany Saltman, STRANGE SITUATION

Bethany Saltman is the author of Strange Situation: A Mother's Journey into the Science of Attachment. She's also an award-winning editor and researcher. Her work can be seen in publications like The New Yorker, New York magazine, Atlantic Monthly, Parents and many others. Strange Situation is a beautiful memoir of Bethany's 10-year journey researching and exploring the science of attachment. The science is fascinating but I really loved that this was a coming-of-age story about motherhood that explored her own upbringing to who she became as a parent. We talked about expectations about what motherhood "should" feel like, Bethany's Buddhist practice, growing up in a 1970's household of "benign parental neglect," and unpacking the heavy things she was carrying from her childhood in order to be the parent she envisioned for her daughter.