Parenting Guru: Hindsight makes the best teacher...

When we moved to Chicago, we knew it would be a challenge to figure out how to work the Chicago Public School system; we just had no idea how difficult it would be.

After testing, tours and tearing out our hair, we managed to find a school for each one of our children. We started out the school yearholding our breath and hoping we managed to make the right choices for them. Of course, we couldn't rest in our decision for very long. By October it was time to start the rounds of testing, tours and tearing all over again to find places for everyone for Fall, 2011.

Now that we have made it to the month of May, we are able to look back with the clarity of hindsight to see what excellent teachers my children had this past year. We had no way of knowing that each teacher would be exactly suited for each child's personality.

We now are thankful for teachers who stay calm on bad days, who comfort children worrying needlessly about minutiae, and who even know how to handle the occasional temper tantrum. Our teachers this year have truly been gifts to our entire family. When the kids can come home in relatively good moods because of the support they have received from their teachers during the day, we all enjoy our time together so much more.

This hasn't always been the case. We have certainly suffered with teachers who were less than perfect for our children. Looking back, I can recognize that, even with a teacher we didn't like, no permanent damage was suffered by my children. They still learned everything they were supposed to learn. They had good days and bad days, just like they have had this year, with wonderful teachers.

As we make our final decisions for the next school year, I find I am doing less tearing my hair out. We are doing what we can through research and strategy to make the best decisions we can for the fall. Ultimately though, we will trust in the resiliency of our children. We believe that they can and will learn both with the help of good teachers and in spite of bad teachers. While we certainly will do our best to err on the side of good teachers, I am happy to rest in the knowledge that my kids can survive a year with a little less than the best.

Hindsight really is the best teacher for me. After nine year of parenting, I'm learning that some things are ultimately outside of my control when it comes to my kids.

And that's (going to be) okay with me.

You can read more of the lessons Melanie has learned from parenting four opinionated and energetic children at her blogs, tales from the crib and (after)life.