Are We Doing Enough?

Today is my only day off this week, and I am still hoping to spend much of it cleaning and catching up on some of the things I haven't done all year, like organizing closets and such (later).  But an article caught my attention today, and drove me deep into the never-ceasing, always-hovering question..."Are we doing enough?"  This damn question haunts me.  All.The.Time.  From therapies, to equipment, to supplements, to activities, etc.  I'm never quite sure if it is the right "stuff."  Nights that we lounge on the couch and watch The Wiggles are barraged with guilt about all of the skills we should be practicing. The guilt never stops.

The challenge of parenting in the 21st century is the endless access to information, opinions, and then some more information and opinions.  I am usually somewhat decent about reading enough to feel informed, and then making an educated decision.   The area of supplements and cognitive research goes outside my comfort zone.  As it is, we debated about using Nutrivene, which is a widely used vitamin powder.  When one of Parker's pediatricians said "If I were in your shoes, I'd be doing the same thing as you" in terms of using it, that was my solidified decision.

We are doing our best to take things day by day, and when needed, weigh the risks and the benefits, and also the opportunity cost of the things we do.  We know that the sometimes 2.5 hours of evening therapy Parker gets a week is at a financial and family-time cost to us, but the benefits of extra practice for him are worth it.  We will continue to be his advocates for life, even when that means making the tough choices and taking some chances.