I've come to the conclusion that I'm a good parent. But I didn't always believe it.

When my son was about six months old, he spit up a lot no matter which formula I fed him. (I tried breast-feeding him when he was born, but he wouldn't have it.) Lacking confidence in my own judgment as a new mother, I prayed, read magazines, consulted the birthing hospital, asked many of my friends for their opinions and tried all of their advice. But I soon found their ideas conflicted and trying to do them all just made me more anxious. And, he still spit up all the time!

Finding no regimen that worked for me and becoming afraid he wasn't getting enough nourishment, I turned to God more earnestly in prayer for the answer. Surprisingly, the answer came quickly and authoritatively, and this was it: God, the divine Parent of everyone, had given the job of raising that boy to me, not to the authority figures or my friends. And I had been given the ability needed to do my parenting job well. In fact, I already had the answer I needed.

He stopped spitting up his food.

From the beginning I had suspected he needed plain whole milk, but I had lacked confidence to use it because I had had the idea, not my friends or the experts. But there's a statement from a book I study regularly that turned things around: "God has countless ideas, and they all have one Principle and parentage." The book is Science and Health by Mary Baker Eddy and the line strengthened my understanding that all ideas come from God. So, the whole milk idea wasn't really mine—I believe it came from God. My confidence was bolstered, and I started feeding him the plain, warm whole milk. You can imagine what happened—he stopped spitting up his food.
 
I stopped worrying about whether I was a good parent.

In retrospect, I don't think it was the change of milk that stopped the problem. I think it was that I stopped worrying about whether I was a good parent or if I were doing the right thing. I stopped assuming that I had to use special, recommended-by-other-people formulas.

I don't think my son had a negative reaction to the formulas, but rather to my worrying. When that stopped, he had better digestion. I don't know if it was necessary to change what I fed him, but I did have to change my thinking from constant worry to calm confidence in my natural ability as a good mother to pray and respond to God's parenting and direction.

The answer I found might not have worked for another child, but it was just right for us. God's ideas, coming as parental intuitions, are specifically designed for each situation. And these divine ideas help parents and children.

As it turned out, I was a good parent, especially when I trusted the wise advice I received from the divine Parent of us all. Through the following 17 years, this was proved to me over and over. When I pray, listen, respond with confidence and stop worrying, the answers come.