4 Superpowers That Are Bestowed Upon All Parents

What is it that nobody tells you about having children?

You will never feel completely relaxed again because you develop super senses.

The author Elizabeth Stone wrote, “Making the decision to have a child–it’s momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”

You Now Have Supersonic Hearing

I can hear my child cry three houses away. I can also hear one daughter whispering to the other, “Let’s cut your hair into bangs,” through two closed doors and a sound machine.

You’re Given an Internal Alarm Clock Set For, ‘What Was That?’

I don’t sleep without some magical part of my subconscious staying completely alert, listening for the tiniest whimper from a bad dream or footsteps on their way to the kitchen, sneaking cookies in the night.

You Will Have Visions of the Future

Being a parent, I can spot “an accident waiting to happen” three steps before my child grabs the scissors from her sister. When my girls are riding their scooters outside, I see potential road hazards most people wouldn’t notice, like “dangerous” twigs that will catch the scooter wheels and make my kids fall.

You’re Equipped With a Sense of Life-Balance Which Will Forever Tip in Your Kid’s Favor

Since becoming a mother, I consider everything I do, every decision I make, though the filter of “How will this affect my daughters?” It’s a different type of stress I took on, like an unofficial contract I signed with my girls that reads, “I will put your needs and wants ahead of my own.” It is this intuition I cherish most because it ensures I am being the best mother I can be.

This post originally appeared on Quora.