Parenthood changes our brains – “…scientists are just beginning to find that both men and women undergo hormonal and brain changes that herald this key transition in a parent’s life.” Men experience a drop in testosterone shortly before becoming fathers: “… the lower a man’s testosterone, the more likely he is to release key reward and bonding hormones, namely oxytocin and dopamine, when interacting with his child. Caring for your child, therefore, produces not only a strong bond but a neurochemical reward, inducing feelings of happiness, contentment and warmth — a welcome trade-off.”
Both moms and dads experience brain changes: “Certain areas within parts of the brain linked to attachment, nurturing, empathy and the ability to interpret and react appropriately to a baby’s behavior had more gray and white matter between 12 and 16 weeks than they did between two and four weeks.”
“But while both new mothers and new fathers show activation in the brain regions linked with empathy and understanding their child’s emotional state and behavioral intentions, a 2012 study by neuroscientists at Bar-Ilan University in Israel suggested that the parts of the brain that light up the most are startlingly different for each parent. For moms, regions closer to the core of the brain — which enable them to care, nurture and detect risk — were most active. But for dads, the parts that shone most brightly were located on the outer surface of the brain, where higher, more conscious cognitive functions sit, such as thought, goal orientation, planning and problem solving.” https://parenting.nytimes.com/health/fatherhood-mens-bodies
I offer counseling for parents who are either new to parenthood or who are experiencing challenges with their adolescent or adult children and would like some help through this period of their lives.