Kathryn Black is author of Mothering Without a Map: Finding the Good Mother Within. Kathryn talks about her own experience with feeling “under-mothered,” and her fear of passing on a painful legacy to her children. She talks about changing and healing her own behavior, and the pervasive cultural fantasy that childhood is perfectible and of …read more »
Bad Mother Anxiety
Childbirth and Self-Judgment with Martha Tole
Medical assistant and doula Martha Tole talks about bad mother anxiety and childbirth. Martha affirms that bad mother anxiety can begin before birth and may continue indefinitely. She describes how so many mothers’ tendency to compare themselves to others and to judge themselves in other spheres of life is especially painful when it comes to …read more »
Attachment Parenting and Anxiety with Kathryn Landon-Malone
Intergenerational Mothering Struggles with Raye Tibbetts
Raye Tibbetts is author of The Bad Mother Chronicles and a new blog called Good Enough. In this episode she speaks about intergenerational patterns of painful mothering. She describes the legacy of her mother having given away a child to adoption and the impact that had on her ability to bond with Raye, followed by …read more »
Balancing Mothering and Medicine with Amy Gottlieb
Women’s health doctor Amy Gottlieb describes her bad mother anxiety due to her absences from her child necessitated by her training. She talks about how balancing work and family can affect mothering and often results in fears that we are doing both badly. She also names some legislative and employment reforms that are needed in …read more »
Mothering as Hero’s Journey with Nicole Chaison
Nicole Chaison is author of The Passion of the Hausfrau about the experience of motherhood as a form of the mythic hero’s journey. She speaks about the courage it took to write honestly about her experiences as a mother and her struggles with both shame and loyalty in deciding to go public with her stories.
Bad Mother Anxiety with Ayelet Waldman
Writer Ayelet Waldman is author of Bad Mother. In this episode of Safe Space Radio, Ayelet talks about the differences between her and her mother’s generation, and the difficulties of living up to the impossible expectations that fit our ideal of a “good mother.” Ayelet argues that being honest with your children about maternal ambivalence helps …read more »
