Michelle Grace is author of the new picture book I’m Right Here (Brown Books Publishing Group), a tender story about the enduring connection between a parent and child.
I had a chance to interview her to learn more.
Why is it important for caregivers to recognize that attachment doesn’t depend on how a family begins?
I think it’s so important to understand that attachment isn’t defined by how a child comes into this world, but by the love, presence, and connection we build with them once they’re here.
My daughter came into this world through surrogacy, and that experience gave me a very personal perspective on attachment. I didn’t carry her for nine months, and initially, I struggled with the feeling that I had missed something. That experience led me to immerse myself in early childhood development and learn everything I could about the mother-child bond.
What I came to understand is that attachment isn’t simply something we’re given. It’s something we nurture through thousands of little moments. It’s in the way we respond to our children’s needs, the way we comfort them, the way we look into their eyes, and the way we make them feel safe in our presence.
Children don’t measure love by how their family began. They experience love through how we show up for them.
I believe every family has its own beautiful beginning, but what matters most is the relationship we continue to build. Attachment is not about the circumstances of birth. It’s about the consistency of love.
How do play and storytelling help strengthen bonds between adult and child?
Play is one of the purest forms of connection between an adult and a child. It’s their language. Before children can fully articulate their feelings, they communicate through imagination, movement, laughter, and play.
When we enter a child’s imaginary world, we’re doing something incredibly meaningful. We’re telling them, without saying a word, that their world matters to us.
I discovered this firsthand with my daughter. I would get down on the floor, create characters, make up voices, invent stories, and allow myself to become completely immersed in her imagination. Somewhere along the way, something beautiful happened. I wasn’t just helping her discover the world; she was helping me rediscover mine.
Storytelling creates a similar connection. A story gives a child a place to explore emotions, develop empathy, and make sense of the world while feeling safe beside someone they love.
That’s really where I’m Right Here came from. Three simple words that became part of our bedtime routine and eventually grew into a story about presence, reassurance, and unconditional love.
I think adults sometimes forget that we don’t always need to teach, direct, or entertain our children. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is simply enter their world and let them lead.
Play is where two imaginations meet, and connection becomes something a child can feel rather than something we have to explain.
How did motherhood ignite your own creativity and sense of self?
Motherhood didn’t take me away from myself. In many ways, it brought me back to myself.
I’ve always loved art, music, storytelling, and the freedom of creative expression. But becoming a mother awakened something in me that I don’t think I could have discovered any other way.
My daughter became my greatest inspiration simply by being herself. Through her curiosity, imagination, and ability to find magic in the smallest things, I began seeing the world differently.
Suddenly, everything became a story. A walk through the park, a conversation before bedtime, a little imaginary character we created together. Ordinary moments became extraordinary.
I began writing I’m Right Here when my daughter was very young, during her naps and after she had fallen asleep. I wasn’t thinking about becoming an author or creating something commercially successful. I was simply following a feeling. I wanted to capture a moment in our lives that I knew I would never get back. I wanted to create something she could one day read to her own children, and perhaps they would read it to theirs.
There’s something incredibly powerful about creating from a place of love without needing the world to understand it.
Motherhood also changed my understanding of fulfillment. I don’t see these years as a time when I’ve put my life on hold. Quite the opposite. I see them as some of the richest, most meaningful years of my life.
Being a mother has given me a deeper sense of purpose, but it has also given me permission to be playful, vulnerable, imaginative, and completely myself.
And perhaps that’s the greatest surprise of motherhood. We spend so much time thinking about who our children will become, without realizing how profoundly they will change who we become.
My daughter didn’t just inspire me to write a book. She inspired me to rediscover the artist within myself.
And now I get to create with my favorite little person right beside me. I can’t imagine a more beautiful gift.
I think it’s so important to understand that attachment isn’t defined by how a child comes into this world, but by the love, presence, and connection we build with them once they’re here.
My daughter came into this world through surrogacy, and that experience gave me a very personal perspective on attachment. I didn’t carry her for nine months, and initially, I struggled with the feeling that I had missed something. That experience led me to immerse myself in early childhood development and learn everything I could about the mother-child bond.
What I came to understand is that attachment isn’t simply something we’re given. It’s something we nurture through thousands of little moments. It’s in the way we respond to our children’s needs, the way we comfort them, the way we look into their eyes, and the way we make them feel safe in our presence.
Children don’t measure love by how their family began. They experience love through how we show up for them.
I believe every family has its own beautiful beginning, but what matters most is the relationship we continue to build. Attachment is not about the circumstances of birth. It’s about the consistency of love.
How do play and storytelling help strengthen bonds between adult and child?
Play is one of the purest forms of connection between an adult and a child. It’s their language. Before children can fully articulate their feelings, they communicate through imagination, movement, laughter, and play.
When we enter a child’s imaginary world, we’re doing something incredibly meaningful. We’re telling them, without saying a word, that their world matters to us.
I discovered this firsthand with my daughter. I would get down on the floor, create characters, make up voices, invent stories, and allow myself to become completely immersed in her imagination. Somewhere along the way, something beautiful happened. I wasn’t just helping her discover the world; she was helping me rediscover mine.
Storytelling creates a similar connection. A story gives a child a place to explore emotions, develop empathy, and make sense of the world while feeling safe beside someone they love.
That’s really where I’m Right Here came from. Three simple words that became part of our bedtime routine and eventually grew into a story about presence, reassurance, and unconditional love.
I think adults sometimes forget that we don’t always need to teach, direct, or entertain our children. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is simply enter their world and let them lead.
Play is where two imaginations meet, and connection becomes something a child can feel rather than something we have to explain.
How did motherhood ignite your own creativity and sense of self?
Motherhood didn’t take me away from myself. In many ways, it brought me back to myself.
I’ve always loved art, music, storytelling, and the freedom of creative expression. But becoming a mother awakened something in me that I don’t think I could have discovered any other way.
My daughter became my greatest inspiration simply by being herself. Through her curiosity, imagination, and ability to find magic in the smallest things, I began seeing the world differently.
Suddenly, everything became a story. A walk through the park, a conversation before bedtime, a little imaginary character we created together. Ordinary moments became extraordinary.
I began writing I’m Right Here when my daughter was very young, during her naps and after she had fallen asleep. I wasn’t thinking about becoming an author or creating something commercially successful. I was simply following a feeling. I wanted to capture a moment in our lives that I knew I would never get back. I wanted to create something she could one day read to her own children, and perhaps they would read it to theirs.
There’s something incredibly powerful about creating from a place of love without needing the world to understand it.
Motherhood also changed my understanding of fulfillment. I don’t see these years as a time when I’ve put my life on hold. Quite the opposite. I see them as some of the richest, most meaningful years of my life.
Being a mother has given me a deeper sense of purpose, but it has also given me permission to be playful, vulnerable, imaginative, and completely myself.
And perhaps that’s the greatest surprise of motherhood. We spend so much time thinking about who our children will become, without realizing how profoundly they will change who we become.
My daughter didn’t just inspire me to write a book. She inspired me to rediscover the artist within myself.
And now I get to create with my favorite little person right beside me. I can’t imagine a more beautiful gift.
