If you skip past all the crap about “maybe that’s why mothers are more attuned than fathers” stuff, there’s some neat stuff about the idea that the limbic and basal forebrains (your emotional freakout center) being rewired after childbirth.
I’m not so sure about the reliability of the study though, since it was reported at the “Society for Neuroscience.”
I mean, I’m all for neuroscience and stuff, but just cause I am, can I be the Vancouver Branch of the “Society for Neuroscience?”
Of course, these are people who compare virgin (huh?) rats and mommy rats running around killing crickets.
Maybe it’s not the childbirth, but the sex.
Anyhoo…Click here for full story
Little note to the “Dallas Morning News:” Maybe. Just MAYBE the reason why dads aren’t as “in tune” as your average mom, is that nobody’s ever stared at a dad like his manhood is at stake if he doesn’t get his screaming kid out of their favourite restaurant. I’m also pretty sure there’s no record of a dad showing up at the hospital with a loose jaw ’cause his wife clobbered the bejeesus outta him for not “shutting that brat up.”
Okay, rant off.
November 4th, 2004 at 9:19 am
Did they study the responses in adoptive parents? or babysitters? or other caregivers? Just wondering if it’s the childbirth experiece that makes the difference or the chromosomes. Or the sex.
I also really like your point that nobody ever thinks it’s Dad’s fault if the kid cries. Including Dad. I know that as a mother, no matter how logically I try to face a situation, if my kid is unhappy, I can’t help but feel like I’m doing something wrong. It’s more than emotional – it’s so physically painful that I have tried to pull my ears off when she won’t stop crying.