Does Stay-At-Home Parenting Make You Stupid?

As an at-home parent, I try to keep my son and I busy with playdates, dads group activities, parent and me classes, visiting family and errands. However, truth be told, most of our active time is spent together alone. In my minimal spare time, I am keeping in touch with friends, on email or blogging. I do not have the free time to do as much reading as I would like. Therefore, most of my time is spent socializing with a 16-month-old child.

Does it affect my intelligence over time? Am I losing my sharp edge and wit?

If your like me and have had these types of thoughts, or thought you were suffering from toddler brain or the like, then you will truly enjoy Is My kids Making Me Not Smart, the latest on Salon from parenting journalist Aaron Traister.

This is one of those articles where I sat at my PC nodding in agreement with everything the author wrote. His opening statement, “I don’t know if parenting makes you chronically stupid or just temporarily slow, but after nearly four years of child rearing, most of them spent as a stay-at-home dad, my intellect has been dulled to a nub,” has made me reflect on the past year of at-home daddyhood. For me, I feel like I have become more intelligent in another world so distant from what I was educated in or passionate about learning.

So maybe I am less smart in world news, politics, recent company mergers, what charter school recently opened, and what skit was controversial on Saturday Night Live this week. Sure, maybe my wit is a bit off kilter, and my first thought during a conversation with someone is something about my child. Consequently, maybe, I am more well rounded, and a better person for it. Jury is still out.

Do you feel that parenting has affected your intelligence level? Do you feel it can make you stupid?

Make Your Stupid photo: By Ayo Ogunseinde on Unsplash