After becoming mothers, we seem to focus on all the ways we fall short. Our days are a blur, we can barely remember the last time we showered, but we also become experts in areas we never dreamed.
Here is a list of 5 areas parents master after having kids. Go ahead, you don’t have to wait until the end to celebrate your accomplishments.
1. Math
I was always terrible at math, but you can’t tell me you haven’t improved since you’ve become a mom! Think about it…you’re able to calculate how many minutes you have left in between feedings to clean, workout, or watch a show. You have memorized how many sips of your coffee/tea you you need to take each time you pick up my glass to avoid warming it up in the microwave ten times. Or maybe your math skills have developed so you can calculate how long of a nap you can get while both kids are asleep before one of them need something. Lately, my math has improved when I calculate how many bites I can take of my meal before my daughter picks up on the fact that mine looks much more appetizing than hers and wants a stab at my plate instead. I have never been better at math!
2. Relationships
Those of us with young kids know our conversations don’t go very deep. Our relationships are sometimes limited to the virtual world or our once-a-month MOPS meeting, but oh we know how to take advantage of every second we have available for adult conversations! The other day I saw a couple of young moms at Chick Fil-A, and they managed to get their toddler’s meals ready, nurse their babies in their other arm all while carrying on a deep conversation about their struggling marriage. They were pros! For those with older kids, you’ve planned your interactions to evolve around your kid’s activities. You get excited when your friend’s son/daughter is involved in the same activity as yours. You sit together to cheer them on and in between the action update each other about your lives — strategic relationship building at it’s finest.
3. Problem-Solving
When I first had my son, I was terrified to go anywhere without help. I would look at moms with 3+ kids and truthfully convinced myself that they left their capes at home. They were obviously superheroes in disguise! How do these mamas get everyone ready and out the door without something going terribly wrong? But soon I worked out all the kinks and had our “leaving the house” routine down to 45 minutes. I knew what to have prepared beforehand, what I could delegate to my daughter, and what wasn’t as important as I thought. This is just one example of many ways you become an expert problem-solver as a parent. Noticing trends, trial and error (especially for that poor first born), and how to get your kids to stay in there rooms as long as possible at night are more examples of excellent problem-solving strategies developed over time.
4. Cause And Effect
When a parent lets a child eat a bunch of sugar at the birthday party with no boundaries, it effects the child’s self management. When my daughter doesn’t get her nap, it effects her attitude the rest of the day. When a kid throws a tantrum in public and the parent is too caught off guard/distracted to discipline in that moment, it effects future behavior. Parents have to be aware of their every move. Children don’t have as many responsibilities to manage. They can spend their time studying and observing our every move and see how it affects them. We have to be on guard at.all.times. I often am not on my A-game, and in those moments my kids see their chance to take full advantage and play around with my sanity a bit. I can’t blame them. They’re learning just like we are!
5. Prioritizing
Is it really that important my child’s outfit matches or that she throws a tantrum because she would rather wear her tutu and cowgirl boots all day? Does it matter if I get to have that coffee date or that my kid gets a proper nap? We are often faced with challenges of this versus that. We start to see (through cause and effect) what really matters. Family time starts to override going out with friends. Sitting around the table sharing stories and laughing becomes a priority over getting stuck in the crowds who are eating out. Quality time with our kids ranks higher than most everything else.
All this to say, it’s easy to think we are losing brain cells each day we spend changing diapers, feeding, potty training, rocking our littles to sleep, running from one activity to the next, and other seemingly monotonous activities.
But really, we are becoming experts in at least those 5 areas above! We are growing each day and have something to celebrate!
Are you a problem-solver, prioritizer, math wiz? Tell us in the comments what YOU have mastered since becoming a parent!