No matter what expectations you have before you become a mother, you will almost always find them going right out of the window the moment your little ones are born. It's impossible to predict the kind of changes that having kids is going to bring to your life. You'll develop and learn as a person far more than you ever thought possible. You may spend your children's lives trying to teach them everything thing that you can, but there's no denying that becoming a mother teaches you more than you ever possibly expected. Here are just a few surprising things that being a mother teaches you.

Patience

It might not be something many moms want to admit, but sometimes it's kind of amazing that they get through a full day without killing anyone! As wonderful and extraordinary as kids can be, they sure do love to test your patience at the best of times. Before you have children, you might think of yourself as a patient person, but that's nothing compared to the levels of patience that you'll have when you're dealing with midnight feeds and screaming tantrums. The calm resolve that you learn as mom is something that, to a lot of people, seems almost superhuman, but it's just something that you have to learn pretty quickly when you bring a life into the world.

Appreciation

One thing a lot of mothers have in common is that, within a few days of bringing their little bundle of joy home, they want to call their own moms and apologize for anything negative that they've ever done and said throughout their entire lives! When you're a kid or teenager, it's so easy to see your mother as a tyrant, stopping you living your life the way that you really want to. But as soon as you have kids of your own you discover just how much hard work and love they put into everything that they ever did for you. Once you've experienced what it's like being a mother, you're much more likely to splash out on some mother's day roses or remember to call them more often just to chat. And don't worry, they won't hold it against you, they probably went through the exact same thing with their own mother!

Empathy

Empathy can be really hard. It's one of the most important characteristics that a person can have, but it's often a serious uphill battle to try and really put yourself in someone else's shoes. When you have a child, you're suddenly thrown into a position where you need to understand someone else's needs and put them first. After that, it becomes so much easier than ever before to put yourself in someone's position and understand why they're feeling a certain way. You might not always be able to fully appreciate what someone else is going through, but being a mother makes it far easier than before to realize that sometimes it's important to put someone other than yourself first.