The truth is non-partisan

When a satirical Web site posted a "study" saying that parents lose an average of 20 I.Q. points on the birth of their first child, MSNBC broadcast it as if it were true. This perception is a common view of many people who think that anyone who becomes a parent must be "brain dead." The opposite is true, according to Katherine Ellison ("This is Your Brain on Motherhood." New York Times, May 8, 2005). Because children challenge parents, "raising children is actually mentally enriching for mothers - and fathers."

My concern is that such perceptions should even exist, let alone be perpetuated by the media. This negativity about motherhood, says Ellison, comes in part because we live in a time when "intimacy of all sorts is on the decline in this country," close extended families are passé, the marriage rate has declined, and a record percentage of women choose to be childless. We no longer have time to maintain friendships, because "real relationships take a lot of time and work - it's much more convenient to keep in touch by e-mail." Successfully rearing children, on the other hand, requires that we develop relationships. In the process, parents "grow, acquire wisdom and become more fully human." That in itself should recommend parenthood.