Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Momnesia

Did you see this article about "Momnesia" in USA Today? Here's the article in a nutshell: Moms tend to be forgetful. This is probably due to the fact that they are...now this is the really cutting edge part...sleep deprived! I know, you really needed USA Today to point that out to you, didn't you? The other reason you may have a case of the old "mom brain" is because of hypervigilance--our mommy superpower that enables us to hear the baby crying in the middle of the night while our husband sleeps peacefully. USA Today says that moms are using all their brain power that used to be reserved for, say, remembering what year it is, for things more crucial to their child's survival. In my case, all the brain storage space that used to be taken up with remembering how to do simple addition and subtraction is now being used to remember how to tell Gordon, Edward and Thomas the Tank Engine apart. Sometimes I panic when someone asks me how old I am because I honestly can't remember. The other day I couldn't remember my parents' zip code for the life of me and it's not like they moved recently. They've lived in the same house since I was five. But I have developed new skills. Yesterday I was cooking a new recipe for dinner, doing laundry and talking to my sister on the phone all at the same time. After dinner I took the kids upstairs for their bath and managed to fold several loads of laundry and clean the bathroom while supervising them. My husband came home from work in the middle of all this productivity and informed me that despite my ability to multi-task like a pro, I had neglected to close the front door of our house. Oops.

I propose that USA Today get their crack team of researchers to work discovering the causes behind all kinds of mom behavior. For starters they could get to the bottom of why moms don't get to take showers every day,why we fall asleep watching Netflix DVDs and why we love to wear sweatpants. I think the world deserves to have the answers to those mom questions and many more.

Got any Momnesia moments or other Mom-disorders to share? I'd love to hear them!

2 comments:

Phillips Family said...

I have Momnesia...but can't remember any specific moments. Ha!

One mommy-induced impairment I realized lately I suffer from is the fact that my social skills are going down the drain. Put me in a group with other mommies, I am fine. Put me in a group of real adults and I feel like a kid sitting at the grown-up table.

Elizabeth said...

I hear you, phillips family. I am the same way. I'm hoping once my kids are older and I'm out there in grown-up land more often that my social skills will come back to me...sorta like riding a bike. : )