What Parenting Decision Would You Not Do over Again?

I would not wait until DD was in 2nd grade to force the school to test her or to start doing the research to get her help outside of the school system. I let "she's doing OK" and "girls aren't usually dyslexic" experts persuade me when I knew she was suffering.

She IS dyslexic and now we found her the most fabulous tutor (found here on mamapedia!) and her grades and attitude are SO much better.

If you think there is something wrong, don;t wait and don't give up.

I will never co-sleep with my children. I did it with my first son and it was a nightmare getting him out of my bed and into his own.
(I'm not knockin' the other moms that do, and there are a lot of them out there, but in MY case that is MY parenting decision I will not do again.)
L.

Prior to having my first child I was so close-minded about how I was going to feed him. I was FOR SURE going to breastfeed him and got roped into the brainwashing crowd of the super-pro breastfeeders. You know - those who say formula is poison, formula feeders are lazy, my kid would hate me and grow a tail if I didn't breastfeed him until he left for kindergarten. I went to the classes, researched breastfeeding online, bought all the needed supplies, blah blah blah.

I was so wrapped up in doing everything "right" that when the breastfeeding was not working out, I had absolutely zero perspective at what was really important - making sure that my baby got fed and making sure that I was emotionally healthy, and neither of those things were happening. I went to exclusive pumping and carried on that chore 8 times a day for four months as a brand new mom with a horribly colicky baby.

It was so hard to give up the EPing and I felt so guilty, but when I finally came to my senses and recognized that *I* deserved to be healthy and not stressed out I instantly became a better mommy. This resulted in a happier baby and family.

I missed out on enjoying my firstborn's 4 months of life because I was not flexible enough to make a decision that suited our needs. I'm not trying to knock breastfeeding, but I wish I would have seen that it was not the right choice for me earlier on.

Are you looking for support, advice, or just venting? Truth is, I can not think of anything I regret as far as my kids go. When we have tried something and it has not turned out well, we simply changed what we were doing and considered it a learning experience. That is what life is after all, one lesson after another :)

I WOULD have found a babysitter much sooner so that hubby and I could have some alone time. We did not go on our first date (without kids) until my older son was about 2.5 yrs old. We almost forgot HOW to be a couple during our hiatus, and it has taken great effort to get it back.

I would not change anything. I guess it depends on who is caring for your child, because my kids all thrived in daycare/preschool. I'm glad and thankful for the social interaction and development they got away from me. For me, it was important that my children learned how to cope away from me and learn how to be around other kids. :)

I would have divorced my H when my son was 3.

MAYBE: Would have kept him in his montessori preschool for K. He wanted to go to "big school" so badly, I signed him up... but his preschool already had him at a 2nd/3rd grade level. He learned to HATE school during K, and the effects still haven't been totally erased, even though 6mo of careful coaxing got *most* of my excited/happy/curious boy back. I regretted not keeping him in his Montessori School for ages, but honestly, that terrible year got us into homeschooling, which has been so phenom I can't *really* regret getting on this road when we did. If K hadn't of been so awful we might still be in away-school, and we would have missed out on so MUCH!

Micromanaging their homework, and making a big freaking deal out of it in elementary school.

I had to answer because I WOULD put my oldest into PDO/pre-school before age 4! He would have really benefited from it! BUT there was no way to realize that until we started him at age 4.

All kids and all families are different. And yes, it's best not to go with what other people say you should do, when your gut tells you different! That ways lies regret!

I wish I had known better than to give my baby son soy-based formula, followed by years of soy milk and soy yogurt.

I would NOT have cut my youngest boy's hair...just because everyone else said I should have! I would have loved some more pictures of his beautiful curls!

I think this is a great question! And some of the poster's honesty really struck my heart. I have a lot of respect for people who can be so completely frank about things that they wish they could do differently.
I totally hear M.R. about the breastfeeding issue! That is my regret too.....that I let people mess with my head and take away the enjoyment of those first few months.

My regret is ever yelling at my kids for the SECOND time. The first time I yelled, I felt so, so terrible. The second time didn't feel so bad....... I swore that I would never raise my voice in anger and somewhere along the line, I left my conviction behind. Thank goodness for the chance to make a change!
I need to clarify....I didn't only yell twice. The first time was horrible, the second time didn't feel so bad and made yelling after that much easier. I still felt bad about it, but kept on yelling! Now I'm making a conscious effort to speak kindly and calmly.

I regret ever letting me kids be aware there is a "kids menu" at restaurants. I should have trained them earlier just to eat smaller tastes and portions of our food.

to NOT nit-pick....& to learn to relax. Who cares about one bombed grade? Who cares about benchmarks? Everybody is different!

Once I learned this life lesson, my whole world was a lot easier!

this may not be so helpful, but try to look up a "Mommy & Me" class in your community. or Head Start

I would never ever, ever put my son back into daycare, we tried that for like a month (he needed social interaction) but he was just miserable!!!! They would call me a lot before noon saying that he had to be picked up because he was crying too much. So no success there!.

I regret not learning more about breastfeeding before I had my baby. I just assumed that if someone as lazy and selfish as my mother could do it, it must be easy, and it wasn't. And the lactation consultant at our hospital was totally worthless (sure, of course the baby's just tired, that's why she's screaming and milk's all over her face but she wont eat, that makes perfect sense!) It wasn't until much later when it was too late and I'd given in to my husband and his mother and went to formula and my milk had dried up that I learned that not everyone is as useless as that LC and I might have been able to keep trying.

I would not have put a tv in my kids rooms.

I would have taken better care of myself so my DD who is 2 1/2 ouldnt have to go to pre-school for 6 weeks while I recover from surgery. It's putting a bigger strain on our marriage and making my DD a huge temper tantrum thrower.