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Posted by momentmaker 1 day ago

Becoming a dad changes men's brains(www.scientificamerican.com)
110 points | 98 commentspage 2
otikik 1 day ago||
I had nightmares about bad things happening to me before. Like, getting ran over by a car, or falling off a cliff.

When my wife got pregnant, it stopped. I started having nightmares about bad things happening to my son instead.

Fun.

morkalork 1 day ago||
Becoming a new parent I knew I'd sleep less and be tired all the time but what I didn't know was simultaneously how much energy I'd have to keep going. It's almost like low grade, months long adrenalin rush. Very strange.
naikrovek 1 day ago||
the only thing that I noticed that changed in me was my sudden understanding of what "fear" really is.

I had not experienced fear prior to becoming a father. The thought of one of my children being ... i'm not even going to say anything more. Use your imagination. That kind of thing scares me so much more than it did before I was a father.

pavel_lishin 1 day ago|
One of our tech leads at work tried to do a team building exercise where we'd go around the table and name our greatest fear.

I was very glad to have been late to that particular meeting. It would have been pretty awkward for everyone if I'd started crying at the table.

bogrollben 1 day ago||
I have 3 teenagers and this claim seems plainly obvious to me.
ChrisArchitect 1 day ago||
Previously related:

Dad brains: How fatherhood rewires the male mind

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47820046

parpfish 1 day ago||
learning or doing anything "changes your brain". that's how learning works.

i hate this phrase and how it's generally used for scare-mongering headlines.

danesparza 1 day ago||
First, this is true - learning or doing anything does change your brain. This article isn't talking about just that.

I personally don't think it's meant to scare-monger, either - although I'm sure opinions may differ on the subject.

What is unique about being a dad is having a living breathing creature depend on you. There are hormones exchanged. AND you're learning and doing something. AND you're remembering (and having to deal with) your own childhood memories. And realizing that in your memories, you were the kid ... now you're the adult. It's different.

fcatalan 1 day ago||
This is not mere learning, must have some kind of pre-wired special mechanism because it's very quick and very strong.
michaelsbradley 1 day ago||
About 2-3 months after the birth of my first child, I started “seeing” the baby’s face vividly whenever I would close my eyes, when I was falling asleep but other times during the day as well. It was not a conscious-voluntary imagination, more like an artifact of my brain rewiring priority numero uno. Our second child is now 3 months old and I have not experienced similar, perhaps because the brain changes already settled down before his birth.
balfirevic 1 day ago|
Tetris effect, but with the baby!
Aperocky 1 day ago||
Read the whole article expecting it to explain how it would have changed, was disappointed to not read that.
close04 1 day ago|
A previous discussion on this topic which doesn't require a subscription to read: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47820046
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