Mother Knows Best!

Nowadays it seems that everyone - from family members to the lady who stares at your child in the supermarket - has an opinion on the right way to raise your child. In the past I have lacked the self-confidence and self-esteem to treat unhelpful 'advice' with the pinch of salt it deserves and have felt inadequate as a mother. I am not saying that sincere, caring, constructive parenting help shouldn't be given, but I truly believe that in most cases a childs mother (and father) is the best person to decide what works for them and their child. I remember once when my 2 eldest daughter were little and I seemed to be fighting a losing battle with depression that I told a friend that I felt the girls would be better off with anyone other than me. I will never forget what she said to me. She said "You may feel like you are not the best mother in the world, but YOU are the best mother for YOUR girls." It took me a while to understand what this really meant but over time I came to see that she was right, the best mother for my girls is me because I know them and love them like no-one else can.
Anyway, once I learned to take other peoples opinions with a pinch of salt, attended several different parenting courses over the years and read numerous books on parenting I felt like I had a fairly good handle on the whole parenting thing. I knew I would make mistakes but I also knew I would learn from them. THEN came the battle to get help for DD2 (darling daughter no.2) as it became clear as she had some difficulties and challenges that I wasn't equipped to deal with. All of a sudden I had a whole new set of people telling me what to do, what not to do, questioning my parenting skills and mental health and not believing or understanding the things I was telling them. The difference this time was that they were professionals and so I felt that I had to listen to them as they were the ones with experience. Well, over the last few years I have learned that although these professionals know a lot about various Syndromes, Disorders and Spectrums they don't know MY child as well as I do and they can only follow their guidelines and do things by the book. I also learned that the best way to get help is to never give up, don't go away quietly and most importantly trust my instincts!