Five ways that Motherhood makes you SMARTER

Baby Brain, Mummy Brain or Pregnancy Brain, phrases almost always presented as a criticism, a way of describing symptoms that ‘dumb’ a new Mother down. But is that accurate?
Are we less intelligent as a result of becoming a Mother?

Here are 5 ways motherhood changes us and makes us smarter.

1. Perception and sensory awareness become heightened.

Smell has an important role in mother/infant bonding. This is known as imprinting. An imprint is a feeling remembered for a lifetime. Once a baby is born, the mother quickly picks up on his unique smell, and it will be this smell that she will be always be attracted to and able to recognise. She has the unique ability to detect, and interpret even the most subtle sensory areas, like hearing, sight, taste and touch.

2. Increased emotional intelligence.

With a reduction in grey matter, a mother may work a little different cognitively, but her ability to use her intuition, empathise, interpret non-verbal cues and body language become her way of protecting her progeny from harm.

“When you become a Mother, you become a Mother to the Whole World”.

3. You learn to be more efficient at multi-tasking.

Have you ever noticed how much a mother can achieve in just 45 minutes? Even more impressive is that she often achieves this with a babe in arms, a pot of the stove and toddler running around her legs.
“If you want a job done efficiently, give it to a busy mum!”

4. Mothers are more contemplative, companionable, reflective, creative.

A Mother tends to become more introspective, often her perspective on career and direction in life becomes clearer. Perhaps how she defined success before having a baby has now changed.

5. Mothers become more tolerable to monotony and repetitive tasks.

This is a very handy skill to possess when you have changed the baby’s nappy for 30 times that day! Or when every day feels like groundhog day!

So, rest assured, motherhood has made you more intelligent in very important ways.