The only thing a baby's cry triggers in this woman's brain is "Oh dear god, no, I cannot deal with that." Which is why it's good I'm not a mother. I wouldn't be surprised if motherhood didn't make profound brain chemistry changes.

Kitten cries to trigger me differently. Maybe I'm genetically destined to be a crazy cat lady.

While lunch is cooking, I did a bit of research. There have been some small scale studies showing that women's brain activity gets interrupted when a baby cries while men's brains don't. So...who knows. I'm just glad I wasn't pulling that completely out of thin air.

Maybe it's baby anything cries.

So, we are throwing some ideas around Chez Scrappy. Are there any Buffistas in Detroit or that area?

My dad would wake up in the middle of the night if he heard a cow in distress. Which is not loud at all if you're in the house.

My sister lives near Pontiac, Scappy, so I'm in that general area once a year or so.

I'm just glad I wasn't pulling that completely out of thin air.

Oh, I didn't think you were! I read one such study a while ago, that concluded that women were less likely to be annoyed by a child's whining, and... that annoyed me. I wrote to ask if they'd included any women in the study who weren't mothers or child caregivers, but they didn't respond.

My brain is so research addled at the moment, Zen, I wasn't totally sure. One thing Buffistas have taught me (never mind Grad school) is to be able to backup your statements. Or admit you are flying by the seat of your pants.

And good point about the mothers/caregivers versus not. I'd be curious of the results. My patriarchy related cynical brain wonders if there hasn't been more research because men don't want to be -shown in a bad light. Though it would underline the patriarchy fed roles of a mother. Meh. Now I'm overthinking it.

I wrote to ask if they'd included any women in the study who weren't mothers or child caregivers

There are very few things that shortcircuit my temper like a whining child. Legitimate crying of distress frightens me because I don't feel up to coping with a child who needs real help. But whining--it's probably the biggest thing that told me I had no business raising a child, the way I had to restrain myself when I heard whining. People blithely saying "Oh, it's different when it's your own" means nothing when someone puts a helpless life in your hands and you realize that you are not up to it. A misbehaving cat made me angry enough that I was afraid of what I might do when confronted by even the best child doing the completely normal challenging and frustrating things.

Aims is teaching in Ypsilanti schools, IIRC, which is not too terribly far from Detroit, I think.