What's best for your child?

As parents, we constantly ask ourselves what is the best course of action, product, etc. for our child. We talk about it with our significant other, our parents, and our friends. We analyze it with strangers on Web forums. Even the seemingly obvious answers are not simple.

Breast milk vs. Formula - Let's start there. We all know that "breast is best" - breast milk provides benefits that science can prove but not replicate. What if, though, breastfeeding causes the mother a tremendous amount of pain or stress or conflict with her spouse. Is it still the best for the child? In those cases, formula may prove best for the child because a child can sense stress. They are little sponges and a happy mommy makes for a happy baby.

Staying at home vs. Working - For a long time, people touted the benefits of a child having one parent stay at home. More recent studies are starting to show that children benefit from having two working parents, too - just for different reasons.

TV vs. No TV - There is a happy medium on this one. Educational TV. Experts still say, though, that no TV until age two is optimal for brain development and learning skills. Some people swear by "My Baby Can Read," "Baby Einstein," and other educational programs like Sesame Street.

There are so many other debates that are ongoing, sometimes raging, about raising children. To me, the funny thing is that people with much less information that we have today have been raising children since the beginning of time (literally). The human race has continued and the majority of children turn out just fine.

I was reading the latest Jodi Picoult book last night and this sentence caught me: "If you worry about being a good mom, then you already are one." Indeed. If you think about these things, wonder if you are making the right choices, and act in what you believe to be in the best interest of your child, you are a good parent. Remember - we don't have to be perfect. Just good enough.