Mom Knows Best

This weekend, I had planned to take my daughter to the pumpkin patch. It is the last weekend before Halloween, this month has been busy, and we just haven't gotten there. So it was now or never. When she woke up in the morning and I told her that we needed to get ready so we could go to the pumpkin patch, my daughter's response was "I don't want to go to the pumpkin patch." Here I was, looking forward to taking her to do something fun as a family, and she didn't even want to do it. I seriously considered saying well - forget it then, we won't go. With this attitude I don't want to go either! But, the mama in me said hey - what 4 year old really knows what they want? We are going. 

We got to the pumpkin patch and she ran through the hay maze, giggled all along the hay ride, and picked out her pumpkin - mostly with a smile on her face. She had a great time and was glad we went.

But sometimes I wonder, as parents, do we really know what is best? We may think that we do. There are the things that are more black & white like what foods they should eat, how much sleep they need, etc. But then there are the slightly grayer areas - what friends they should have, which sports they should play, what types of discipline are not only necessary, but work. When our children are grown, will we look back on some of the decisions we made for them or directions we guided them in - all with their best interest in mind - and second guess whether those were really the right things for them?

My daughter has a lively, energetic personality. She just turned four this month and in my opinion, as well as that of friends with kids similar ages or older, she is super smart. With an October birthday and our school district's policies, she still has 2 years until she can technically start kindergarten. My head says that if she has two more years of preschool, she is going to be bored out of her mind. She can already write her name, count to 30, identify most of the alphabet and write some of it. Is it crazy to think that a year from now she might actually be ready to start school? Our school district does have an option of having a child tested to start school early. It is a fairly in-depth review of what the child knows and understands - but it is something I have considered. How do you really know, though, if that is the best thing for them?

Every day we make decisions on behalf of our children, and probably most of the time they are the right ones. But still, I have to wonder, 15 or 20 years from now, what am I going to look back on and wish I'd done differently? What will you?