My Most Valuable Sense

I am fortunate that I have all my senses fully functional and good to go.

As we are taught from a very early age, the five basic senses are:

• taste
• sight
• touch
• hearing
• smell

Now if I had to rank those in order of how much I value or want them, it would have to go something like this:

5. Smell – Quite frankly if I lost the ability to smell right now, it would not bother me at all. As a former smoker (non-smoker for the last 10 years), and long-time hayfever sufferer, I’m amazed my sense of smell even works. As a parent to a baby under the age of 18 months, the sense of smell is mainly used to identify what things are. The answer to “What’s that smell?” is usually poop. So unless you’re on nappy watch, it’s not even really necessary.

4. Touch – If I had to lose the sense of touch and could never again feel the pain of stepping on a barbie doll shoe, I would be okay with that. No, seriously. Boy moms think they have the monopoly on complaining about how lego is the most painful thing to stand on… but Barbie shoes and other accessories are just as painful. Also in this category is allowing your child to comb your hair, being whacked in the face or kicked during the co-sleeping (not by choice I might add), and using your feet as a way of reaching things on the counter.

3. Taste – this is a tricky one because without the sense of taste I won’t be able to taste my coffee or wine, but I guess as long as the effect is the same, I can live without it. At least then it would open me up to Rose, sweet wine, and even Champagne … maybe even beer! But I would also not have to worry about having some soggy half chewed piece of toast thrust into my mouth, and I wouldn’t care that my coffee is luke warm. Okay, it’s normally cold. It’s basically ice-coffee.

2. Sight – This is a hard one because without the sense of sight I won’t be able to drive, or see what they are actually getting up to, but I guess that one is kinda win/lose point. At least I won’t be able to see the mess. I won’t be able to see the dirt. I won’t be able to see that they’ve stripped Barbie  … again.  I won’t be able to see the fingerprint and tongue marks on the inside of the car window or in fact any glass or shiny surface. On the other hand, if I can’t drive I can’t take them to school, then I won’t get any time to myself, so this is a really tough one.

1.Hearing – This has to be my favourite sense! If I lost it I wouldn’t be able to hear the fighting, true. But I also wouldn’t be able to surprise them constantly. Only by the sense of hearing can I tell what they are actually up to in another part of the house. The other day I could tell from one sound that my 3 year old had gone into that draw (the one in the kitchen full of junk that the kids aren’t allowed in because you can’t remember what is actually in there), got hold of the cellotape/stickytape and was unrolling it at lightening speed. Thanks to my sense of hearing I managed to fly in there and rescue the tape. To say she was shocked was an understatement. “How did you know mommy?” … “Because I know!”

I never even tell them how I know … I just show up, end whatever it is, and leave again, with them staring after me in amazement.

If I were to claim my mom-superpower, it would definitely be Hearing! My superhero name might even be WolverineWoman or maybe even Wolverine’sWife (Yum)!

This idea is gaining traction all the time!

What would your favourite sense be?