Sometimes, you’ll find yourself caught between your child’s best interests, your own, and the affects that your family will feel, and it’s hard to choose. That’s natural – no one’s expecting you to have all of the answers, all of the time. But how do you leave that spot you’re rooted to with indecision?

Consult friends, peers and professionals

No matter the decision you’re facing, whether it’s about your child’s education, childcare, or a list of other this-or-that’s, asking around for other opinions can help you see the situation – both pitfalls and positives – in a new light. Friends and other moms might have dealt with a similar situation, and professionals will have research to back up or dispel claims you’ve read or concerns you might have.

Meditate on it

This doesn’t have to mean sitting in lotus position and chanting ohm. Think about the choices, the pros and cons of all avenues, what your gut tells you is the right thing and what your concerns about each road’s end are. Some people find journaling or blogging to be a great platform for this, others make a pros and cons list, while others sit and introspectively focus on potential solutions.

Read, talk, listen

This might seem an extension of consulting friends and professionals, and it is, but it’s so much more. I’ve found that reading a book opened my eyes as to what I didn’t know, I didn’t know. You know? For instance, until I started reading about homeschooling, I’d never heard of unschooling and therefore, it wasn’t even an option.

Don’t avoid making the harder choice, just because it’s harder

The hardest things in life, it sometimes seems, are the best. The easy road doesn’t lead to anywhere. There’s a million clichés about taking the uncleared path through the woods instead of the cement for a reason.

Ask yourself what the long-term picture will be

Often, imagining what your child at eighteen will be like if you choose door number one can be the easiest way to make a decision. I’ve heard this one before, time and again: as parents, we’re not just responsible for our children at three years old – we’re accountable for the adults they’ll grow up to be as well.

Remember that this too shall pass

Just like the terrible twos, Dora the Explorer and crawling, this tough time while you grapple with life’s potentials will end. The stress of decision-making will dissolve and in the future, you’ll be able to look back at today, without breaking a sweat.

About the Author Terra (aka Zoeyjane) is a single mom to a crazed nymph of a preschooler in Vancouver. After rocking at making rich people more money, selling them shiny shoes and helping them deal with their unimpressed clients, something made her think parenthood might come easy. She’s since learned her lesson, with a lot of time outs along the way. When she’s not trying to get the yelling to stop and ignoring the jumping of a child high on agave syrup, she works from home as a freelance writer and small business consultant, blogs on various sites and remains active in social media. Profile | Her Main Site | Follow Her on Twitter

Exchanging once a month feels like the least time commitment for an all month exchange. At least the time is compacted into one day a month. Each person will need to make dishes that freeze well. It's a great idea to buy the same freezer containers as a group. This way no one has to worry about returning things to their rightful owner. Remember in a month with 4 weeks each person will be responsible for 4 dishes. It's up to you if you want to have 7 people or 5.

Arrange a Cooking Party

Rotate host houses and make that one day a big cooking party. Don't forget to have a relaxing lunch break. Time passes fast when everyone's chopping. Cooking together means you don't have to arrange a drop off time for all the food. Each person will take their booty home with them. Of course, if no one has a big kitchen, you can meet and exchange pre-made food in a once a month exchange.

Develop a Plan

It's important to have good communication so you don't have people making duplicate dishes. You can be a specific as you want. You could decide on the exact recipes or have each person take a theme like Chinese, Italian, Thai, stew, or soup. Use any idea that will make it easier to have variety. You can have 1 person pick recipes for each week, or negotiate so everyone can cook there favs. If everyone is on the same cooking level they may enjoy the challenge of new recipes.

Arrange Your Meal Exchanges

You could also choose to meet and exchange the goodies once a week. This way you can swap salads and other foods that can't be frozen. In fact, if you all live close you could have a pick-up at the dinner making member's house or do a door to door delivery on your night. You could still get together once a week and have a cooking party. I find it's harder to get a weekly meeting together with a group, so don't get disappointed if that doesn't work out for you. Having dinner made by someone else and not having to cook is a big treat no matter how you do it!

Start Small

If you can't imagine having this kind of time commitment, you and your friends can start smaller. Have a one time soup or muffin exchange and see how that goes. Then next month try a dinner exchange where you each cook 1 dish for one another. You need to mold the co-op into what will make your life easier. This is a great way to include people you might not want on a weekly exchange. If it's just a soup swap once or twice a year, you'll still get yummy food and time with friends.

Check out the Soup Swap website for some great tips. They've been doing this for awhile and have the soup exchange down to an art form.

Rice Cooker
My first must have is a rice cooker. It doesn't matter if it's the cheapest one or it has all the bells and whistles. You will never overcook rice again! I bought mine at Costco for $25.00. It has a timer so I can add the rice and water before I leave for work and set it to be ready when I walk in the door. Mine switches to a warming temperature after it finishes. Even if you start the rice right before dinner, using the rice cooker lets you ignore it until it's ready. This way you can actually concentrate on the other dishes you are making.

Many rice cookers have a brown rice setting, but I've cooked brown rice in cookers that didn't have that setting with no problems. You can try some new flavors and use vegetable broth instead of water, or try using coconut milk to make rice that's a perfect base for a tropical dish. You can also try other grains like quinoa in it. Make sure to keep an eye out when you cook a grain other than rice. Quinoa cooks faster than rice, so if you wait for the ding it will be unusable.

Immersion Blender
An immersion blender can be a lifesaver if you cook for picky eaters. You can cook up several different veggies and use the immersion blender to puree them, making it easy to hide them in soups and casseroles. One of my favorite things to do is to hide pureed beets, spinach and zucchini in baked goods. An immersion blender gets used right in the pot you cooked in so there is no pouring hot liquids in to the blender. And best of all - no blender container to clean. Just rinse the immersion blender and you're all done with cleanup! You can use a regular blender, but make sure you don't fill it too full or you'll have a hot mess all over your counter top.

Try using an immersion blender to make mashed potatoes or fake mashed potatoes by substituting cauliflower or a combination of both. The immersion blender makes the cooked cauliflower a dead ringer for mashed potatoes. Add a little gravy and your little ones might even ask for seconds.

Slow Cooker
My most used and most loved kitchen appliance is my slow cooker. Well, actually my 5 slow cookers. If you have your Mother's hand me down, one you've picked up in a thrift store, or a brand new programmable one, now is the time to get it out and use it. Most dishes can be made in an inexpensive 4 quart slow cooker. You can pick one up at Target for about $20.00. I love throwing a few ingredients into the slow cooker before I leave for work and having dinner ready when I walk in the door.

Slow cooker recipes have improved and you can even find healthy ones. It doesn't have to be combining a can of cream soup over mystery meat. Use fresh veggies and make curries, sweet and sour tofu, and just about any soup you can think of. Just remember to add dairy products and quick cooking veggies about 20 minutes before you are going to serve dinner. If not, you may have to order pizza instead.

It still helps to make a menu plan in advance. If you know what you are making in advance you can prep a few things the night before. Then with the help of your rice cooker, immersion blender, and slow cooker you may just save enough time to have a few minutes that are all your own. Plus you know what your family is eating is fresh, healthy, and tasty.

Flours
Flours are a necessity in any pantry. You never know when you might find some time to make some homemade bread or brownies. The one flour to leave out, or at least use sparingly, is bleached white flour. Use unbleached white or white whole wheat flour in its place. White whole wheat is made from a different variety of wheat that is softer and is lighter in color, but it still has all the good nutrition of whole wheat. Whole wheat flour is great and you can mix it with unbleached in recipes to add more fiber. Whole wheat pastry flour is a must for making healthy cookies and muffins that taste great too. It's a little expensive, but cheaper than buying ready made baked goods and much better for your family. It's a much finer grind than regular whole wheat and it creates a more delicate baked good.

Milk Substitutes
I like to keep a variety of milk substitutes on hand like rice, soy, and almond milk. You can get unsweetened ones, even in vanilla and chocolate. These are great for using in soups, baked goods, even hot chocolate. But most of all the shelf stable containers last for a year or more. When you can't get to the store for milk or you have lactose intolerant guests, you can rely on these.

Grains & Pasta
Grains go beyond the typical white rice we see in restaurants all the time. Switch brown rice for white. I find that long grain brown rice has a texture closer to white. That means it's easier to slip into your kids' meals without a fuss. Whole wheat couscous is actually a pasta but goes great under stews. Quinoa is another fabulous grain to add to your menus. It cooks faster than rice and is a complete protein all by itself. Make sure to rinse it before cooking. It has a bitter covering that comes off easily in water, but is inedible with it. Some brands are rinsed already, but I always wash it just in case.

Everyone has made a last minute pasta dinner. Add some extra zing to yours by substituting whole wheat angel hair for your usual spaghetti. If you cook whole wheat pasta a little longer it will be closer to the texture that your family is used to. Whole wheat orzo is great to use when you just don't have time to cook rice. It's perfect in soup, under main dishes, really any place you would normally use rice. Brown rice pasta is a great substitute for gluten-free families. There are other whole grain pastas, even some that have lentils. Give those a try too.

Pasta Sauce
Bottled pasta sauce can be healthy if you make sure to look at labels. Lean towards organic, low fat, low sodium sauces. A good rule of thumb is don't buy food that has ingredients you can't pronounce. If you keep canned tomatoes and tomato paste on hand you can make your own sauce in minutes.

Dry Beans
Dry beans of all kinds are super cheap to buy and store indefinitely. It's certainly easier to pop open a can, but you can make a batch of dry beans and freeze them in can sized portions. If you're on a tight budget, beans are the perfect meat substitute. Red beans and rice, dal, chili, white beans over pasta - the possibilities are truly endless. Almost every cuisine has a few dishes that are based on beans.

Organic Canned Goods
Buy organic canned goods whenever you can. Canned organic veggies are becoming more common place and less expensive. Keep an eye out for sales and stock up when things are cheaper. It's important to rotate the older cans forward or you'll end up with expired dates. Make sure to have half a dozen cans of assorted beans on hand all the time. They are great to add nutrition to salads and soups. Just give them a rinse before you use them to get rid of the extra salt. You can make an on the spot pantry chili. Corn, green beans, pureed pumpkin and butternut squash are all great to have on hand. I like to put the squash puree in soups and casseroles, even mac and cheese. After all what they don't know may just get them to eat better!