A humourous tale from urbanmoms.ca member Connie…
I suspected it during my pregnancies and it was confirmed when I became a stay-at-home mom. I’ve definitely lost some brainpower since I became a parent. We’ve all heard of “pregnancy brains” but my experience showed it evolved into a new entity, which I call “Brain Stew”. I’m reminiscent for the days when I didn’t have to struggle to remember a simple word on an hourly basis. Not only did my vocabulary change, other areas of my life did as well. I’ll explain…
Current Events
Before Children:
- President Clinton’s Impeachment
- The Free Trade Agreement
After Children:
- Who is Baby Dannielynn’s daddy?
- Britney Spears impromptu head shave.
Discussions
Before Children:
- Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice
- Global Poverty
After Children:
- Explaining to the kids that you don’t know the reason why six-year-old Caillou is bald.
- Explaining to the kids that even though Spongebob loves Krabby Patties, they won’t.
Attire
Before Children:
- Jimmy Choo’s, Manolo’s
- Push-up Bra and a Power Suit
After Children:
- Crocs
- Support Bra and a Track Suit
Power Couples
Before Children:
- Bill and Melinda Gates
- Conrad Black and Barbara Amiel
After Children:
- Brangelina
- Regis and Kelly
World’s Influential Women
Before Children:
- Hillary Rodham-Clinton
- Margaret Thatcher
- Golda Meir
After Children:
- Oprah
- Judge Judy
- Dr. Phil’s wife Robin
The sad part is, I could go on and on. Unfortunately I’m not alone. A mother of two boys who is currently in college earning her Human Resources certification admitted to me that she debated with her instructor about same-sex benefits and referred to the people in her argument as Spider-man and Doc Ock. When the giggles started, she realized her brain is hopelessly fried. My former boss accuses me of sitting around the pool, eating chocolates and drinking cocktails all day. First of all chocolate gives me zits. Secondly, no matter how much my daughter disagrees, her Dora the Explorer pool doesn’t count as a real pool. I do have to admit there is a smidgen of truth about the cocktails. I just wish I could swap the cranberry juice for a little bit of intellect in my next kiddy pool sized Cosmo.
What do you think? Is your brain fine or frazzled post-kids? Share your thoughts with urbanmoms.ca member and writer Connie below, in comments.
Depression, ulcerative colitis, IBD…what else will this do to people? LET’S GET THIS FIXED!
I finally set my iGoogle page to have the news feeds from
– Slate Magazine,
– Salon: The Broad Sheet,
– CBC,
– Al Jeezera and
– Reuters
So I get my daily dose of as I log on and read my email with my first cuppa the day.
…so now I can have discussions with people that don’t revolve birth, babies and potty training.
Hilarious. Does it ever come back?
I was telling my husband how laughable it is having picked up a part time sales job since having a baby.
Before baby:
smooth talker, can close any deal
After baby:
become tongue tied and blow a raspberry when the words don’t flow- just before taking a moment to reexplain!
(*Is re-explain a word?!…there I go again.)
Honestly I think you are being too hard on your self! It is not just a new mommy brain thing. The content of the news we watch over the years has changed. My mom had 3 kids under the age of 5 and she remembers having to turn off the TV because the news from Vietnam was too distressing. Frankly I find myself releting totally since I fee the same what about Iraq. She also spent hours watching and discussing Nixon, and Watergate with her friends. Kent State was also in the news when she was having babies. Celebs were rarely covered on the network news.
CNN and other news organizations spend WAY too much time on celeb news. Try to make a point of watching the 1/2 hour BBC news each day. You may have to PVR it and watch it at a time that works for you but If you do it you’ll find your mind slowing coming back to real News and world issue.
Don’t worry you still have a brain and it works just fine! You just have to excercise it!
LOVE IT, Connie! No argument here. Next time you throw a Kiddy Pool Party, I’ll be over for some of that hard-to-come-by intellect 😉
Hysterical! Fabulous writer–I look forward to more from her!