As parents, we all have to make decisions that can have a lasting impact on our child's life. Sometimes they are easy decisions but often with children with challenges, like adoption, learning or physically disabilities, the conclusions don't come so easily.

Challenges don't come with a guidebook nor do they come with one single opinion. If only there were straight lines to connect the dots on the best action to take, this would be a lot easier.

Teachers, counselors, psychologists, psychiatrists, doctors, medical specialists all have a recommendation - as does your family and your neighbors if they know the situation. When it comes down to it, as a parent of a child with challenges you need to condense all those people's thoughts into a cohesive plan of action for your child.

Can you tell I've been struggling with a decision? We have an educational issue to tackle and we've done all the right things. We've gotten experts to weigh in, had test done and they and her tutors back up our opinion but her teacher seems to be on the fence. I don't want to be an antagonist. I know how hard teachers work and I respect this teacher but we are comfortable with the decision we've made even if the teacher isn't on board with it.

Things would be so much easier if everyone just lined up with the same answer but that rarely happens. I often wonder if discussions aren't more angst-ridden for me because I didn't carry this child in my body and know her every second of her life. I overcompensate for that by trying harder than necessary and worrying a lot. I'll continue to work on the process of condensing opinions into a cohesive plan with my voice coming through clear.

Let me know if you've found a better way to reconcile conflicting opinions.