What Have Been Your Best Mommy Decisions?

staying at home, with both as babies, sleeping with them next to me, NOT letting them cry it out, NOT spanking ...and breastfeeding

basically using the "attachment process of parenting" has been my guide, and my lifesaver

Learning how to take care of myself so that I could be a more attentive, more calm, more loving mother and wife.

My kiddos are both very young too - 2 and 7.5 months. My best mommy decision was to let go and stop being such a control freak. Sauce in his hair is not a big deal, it comes out in the bath. Finger paint turned into body paint is actually pretty funny! If they don't have a bath every night, it is not going to be the end of the world! When things don't go as planned, and us moms know that they rarely do, it will be OK!

The concious decision for me to take a chill pill has really helped me enjoy my kids rather than it being a chore everyday! I literally have to work on it every day, and I'm glad I do!

My best decision was to use attachment parenting, and a type of passive parenting to help raise my children. I realized with my first baby that control was a big issue of mine, and something I had to fix. So, I learned to let go. Because my focus is on the quality of my relationship with my girls- and the future impact of that relationship, I am able to focus on what actually matters and let the rest go by the wayside. Being passive in my parenting also allows my girls to express themselves, and show me, throught their actions, that they are listening to me and applying the things I'm trying to teach them.

I can say without a doubt that paying attention to my daughter and I mean really paying attention to her habits, learning style, language style etc. I picked up on my daughter being developmentally delayed at age 2 1/2. I thank god that I had an open mind and was really attentive to her so that I could have picked up on it. SHe has been receiving services and I think we can turn this around.

I have made 3 flawless decisions and many scatter brained ones!.
1) Good nutirion - prenatal through present
2) Breastfeeding
3) The father I chose to have them with

by far, without a doubt, making my life decisions around the fact that I planned to stay home with my kids. From my career choice, to marriage choice, to choosing to have a lot less stuff, all so I would not have to work when I started having kids. There is no comparison to any of my other choices. This is the one. With all this talk of parenting styles, what difference does it make if you aren't the one parenting during the day?

Realizing that pollio and other diseases are far more devastating than even the worst case scenarios of side effects of vaccines (which as it turns out, the studies on that have turned out to be fabricated results)

Realizing that anything that starts with "studies show" needs to be taken with a grain of salt. To use your own brain on parenting instead of subscribing to this theory or that philosophy of parenting.

Parenting without anger. There are rules and there are consequences to breaking them. I don't get angry, I simply apply the appropriate punishment, no messing around with threats, frustration, yelling, and exasperation. Adding spanking to my punishment repertoire made things a lot better in our house. (I did this when I found out that the "studies" done on spanking did not isolate open handed swatting on the butt, but also included hitting the face, closed fisted punching, and hitting with objects). In other words, there are no such "studies" on appropriate spanking)

Introducing lots of healthy food and steering clear of mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and soda, so I don't even have to deal with a picky eater wanting only those things.

My best decision so far was deciding to make a commitment to attachment parenting, getting hubby on board and not feel bad about adjusting here and there so it works for us.
I also LOVED breastfeeding!

breastfeeding. There is nothing in this world like it.

great answers! last week my 4 yr old son had his first filling done at the dentist. he was fascinated by how his numb mouth felt. touching his mouth with his finger, he informed me that his mouth felt like a sea cucumber. i had been feeling frustrated about some of my parenting and housekeeping skills. then i realized how cool it is that my son knows what a sea cucumber feels like! because of my efforts, #1 my son got the dental help he needed and #2 he has been to an aquarium. both events required my budgeting, researching locations, organizing, driving, encouraging, etc. we can't do everything we want to for our children, but we can do much good for them.

My daughter is still young, only 15 months, but I think my best decisions have been talking to her, enjoying her, and trusting my instincts. I've always spoken to her and told her what we are doing and what is going on around her even when she was too little to understand, but I think that has helped her to develop excellent verbal skills. She has been using sentences since 12 months, unfortunately they usually start with I want... but they're sentences. Being a working mom, it's very easy to get caught up in running errands, making dinner, and getting her to bed on time, but I've worked on letting the little things go and taking the time to enjoy my precious little girl while she' still little. I think the most important decision I've made is trusting my instincts. When my daughter wouldn't take a bottle, I looked to others for advice, read about it on the internet and bought every bottle ever made, but the only thing that worked was what I thought from the start. That's when I learned to trust my instincts.

Planting a garden in my back yard was the best thing so far but my little one is only 4. She loves picking fresh fruits and vegetables every day for snacks and to pack in her lunch. She is so proud of the things she pulls out of her garden and she would rather eat a fresh tomato over a chip or chicken nugget any day.

Updated

Planting a garden in my back yard was the best thing so far but my little one is only 4. She loves picking fresh fruits and vegetables every day for snacks and to pack in her lunch. She is so proud of the things she pulls out of her garden and she would rather eat a fresh tomato over a chip or chicken nugget any day.

Love them unconditionally, take time to play with them and read to them, sing silly songs, dance crazy dances, remind myself that the dishes will still be there in the morning, curling up with them for a sunday afternoon nap. Allowing them to be kids and get dirty, play in the mud, go out in the snow, make a mess baking cookies and icing cup cakes, taking lots of pictures and lots of memories. Nutrition & schedules are important for their physical health, but all this other stuff is just as important for physican and emotional health.

I asked my grown daughter what she thought were my best decisions for her and her 2 sisters. She said she thought my always taking them to church even though my spouse did not attend with me was one. The other was my always standing with my husband and never talking bad about him regardless how we were getting along. She said I never showed fear when we hit a crisis, like when my husband was fired or we had major financial problems. I can only say that it was my faith in God to work everything out that was the reason for this.

reading the Baby Whisperer and BabyWise and making up my own version of the two, although mostly baby whisperer. Also, swaddling. Swaddling was awesome, and anytime i have a friend or family member who has a baby I buy them a swaddler and a copy of the Baby Whisperer's book. Of course, her dad and I are both pretty regimented, so a schedule helped us all. :-)

I'm not sure how following babywise can cause brain damaged babies, but I'm not a doctor.

I'm also extremely glad I allow time for silliness, even if my husband thinks turning the living room into a camping tent is a silly idea. At least he doesnt know we were blowing bubbles in there. :-)

With my 2 year old is is to ignore all "mile stones times". After freak out all the time with my first if she wasn't on her "schedule" I decide that I will give my best and let the rest up to her. She knows how to count from 1 to 20 (English and Spanish) ABC's, colors (both languages too) but she doesn't know (or want) ride in a tricycle, and I am 0k with it!
With my 12 year old was stop the hitting. When my daughter born I was in a bad time, I was young, immature and full of frustrations and fear. I have learn to communicate with her. Some one said that parents that don't hit take the easy route. For me not hitting implies a lot of work, and I have done it for 4 years now. I had to learn to control my anger, think what to say, talk to her, listen to her, find ways to handle situations and the results are no as fast as when I use to hit her, but I notice that now, when she finally get it, is not for fear but because she actually gets it. It makes me sad when I see kids cover their selfs if you pass fast your hand near them, my daughter doesn't do that anymore and is the best reward I could ever ask for.

My best mommy decision was to be a stay at home mom. I had children so that I could raise them. Also, to homeschool. We didn't start out with this in mind, but are so glad we decided to do so. And, primarily, teaching them Biblical precepts and spending time in the Bible with them daily.

I think my best decision is to be diligent in making sure that both of my sons eat proper meals and make good decisions about food. As infants, I made sure that they ate their meats and vegetables before fruits and now that they're toddler/preschool aged, they eat more well-rounded meals than some adults I know. They love steak, chicken, even fish and they always eat their vegetables. If I ask them what they want for dinner, they request things like meatloaf & green beans or chicken with peas and for snacks they ask for fresh fruit. It makes me proud that I have taught them well and have hopefully created good eating habits that they will carry throughout their lives.

I'm also glad that I taught them to be polite starting at a young age. They always say please, thank you, and excuse me even to each other when I'm not in the room and they're only 3 and 4 yrs old. :)

yelling at my relatives lol! the older women in my family (and by older I mean 40s and 50s like my mom and aunts) think they know whats best for my baby just because they have raised children themselves and I am just starting. They would put him to bed in a big bed when he was 4 mnths old and on his belly. I kept telling them not to do this, and they kept saying oh he's fine. finally at my wedding (which was in sept so it was a little chilly.) I told some of my aunts that I wanted to take the baby inside, and they said he would be fine that they were playing with him. well I had had enough and said look he is my child not yours, I know you have raised your own children, but now you need to let me raise mine. i have been able to relax more when I take him to family gatherings

By far, breastfeeding my kids was a great choice! My kids NEVER get sick!
I carefully chose their father and I am so happy that I did! He's a wonderful role model as a hubby and daddy! Also, letting my kids be kids has been a great choice for us. I keep my expectations realistic and tell them that I love them every day!

My best decision was to be a stay at home Mom. Before I was working a 12 hour compressed shift(36 hrs. one week,48 the next) I was worn out all the time and on the days I worked I only saw them to kiss them bye while they were asleep and to take them home,feed them,bathe them and put them to bed.My days off had to be spent doing all the chores I didn't have time for when I worked.As a result,I remember very little of their being babies. I freely admit,it isn't for everyone. Iv'e known Mom's who tried it and decided to go back to work.But,I would highly recommend trying it if you can,to see if it is for you.

What a great question...gives us mom's a chance to be positive about what we have accomplished as a parent and lets us feel good about ourselves!
I think that my best decisions have been
Eating dinner together as a family almost every night where we talk about our favorite part of the day
I love to play games and so does my husband and kids, so usually we play games after dinner and laugh and bond
Correcting my children when it needs to be done so that they can be respectful now and when they are older
Try to give my kids food that are organic or that is not full of preservatives
Family is very important to me, although my family is scattered throughout, I make a point for my kids to be able to interact with all of them
Stick to a sleep schedule
(I too read babywise and although I did not follow it to the point that every time they had to do the "babywise" method it helped me create a schedule that worked for us)
Wow I sound full of myself...thank you again for this question because it actually made me feel like a good mom for a couple of minutes

I enjoyed reading all the responses and I see there are a lot of like minded and not so like minded moms on here and both are great!
I feel like I've made many great mommy decisions but will only list what I feel like are my best ones:)
1. BREASTFEEDING until my son was just past 1 years old and decided he was done! I swore my son would never know the taste of formula and he never had a drop which, I'm extremely proud of.
2. My version of Babywise. My son has been sleeping through the night since 3.5 months old, always falls asleep on his own, never wakes up at night and can wait until we're ready to get him up when he wakes up.
3. Making all of his baby food and continuing to cook all of his meals and having very good nutrition. My husband and I don't eat junk food and neither does our son!
4. Teaching him the proper way to pet animals (we have a cat and a dog) as soon as he became aware of them (around 2 months) and never leaving him unattended with them! They have a wonderful relationship but, they're still animals nonetheless.
5. I didn't really think of this one until I read some of the other mommies responses but, by a long shot, his daddy!!!!!
6. Going back to work. I have great respect for the stay at home moms but, I want and need my career!
7. Never bringing him to our bed. My son has slept in his own room and his crib since his second week.
8. Making sure not to neglect our relationship as a couple and not to have the world revolve around our son. We love him with all our beings but we also love each other and make sure that our relationship doesn't suffer ;)

The best decisions I feel I have made to date are:
1) Selective/delayed vaccination schedule until #2 came along and no vaccinations from that point on
2) Treating/teaching/loving each child as the person who they are and not expecting them to be like their sibling
3) Staying at home and educating myself on everything I possibly can about each of my children's health condition(s).
4) Eating a varied and healthy diet with minimal processed foods

to enjoy (as much as possible :)) each day I get with them, to relax!! and realize they will not be ruined for life if I make a mistake, and to let my husband be a different kind of parent than I am!! That's a BIG one I'm still working on :) I read LOADS of books and have a few favorites. I'm also very informed about good food choices, sleep requirements, etc....But in the end, I think it just comes down to being a good example (I try) and doing your absolute best with each day. I think kids will do what you do, not necessarily what you say :)