Does it really make a difference?

As a Mother, we make so many different decisions. There are so any ways to raise a child that we need to choose what is "best" for our child. Some decisions you make with absolute confidence. For other decisions, there is a voice deep in the back of a mother's mind that worries you that you may be wrong. It is a valid fear. Medical science is an evolution and its practitioners have varying ability and we, the mother, cannot be experts in everything... even though we try. Some times you may pass judgment on another mother for making different choices because you way is "best" or maybe you have received the judging tone of another mother... but in the end does it really make a difference?

Can you really tell who's mother bottle-fed and who's mother breastfed? Who walked at just a few months old vs. well past a year? Who spoke when or whose mother allowed junk food and who ate organic? Is it more important to nurture a life focus on enjoyment or a focus on restriction? Does the occasional indulging in rich foods and fast foods really make me a "bad" mother? Why does the mother who never slept with their child not understand the short lived beauty of going to sleep and waking with you child? In the end, the child grows up and will probably succeed just like the child who only sleeps in her own bed.

The world is a rich place that requires the need for all types of people. We need the logical minds of the scientists, the imagination of the art, the language of the teacher... a child becomes who she is by a simple and complex formula: Parenting + Genetics + Personality + Environment/Experience. Even the mistakes the parents make lend to the unique person we become. So, does it really make a difference?