Well, I'm only half done. But so far, the thing that comes to mind most often is that I would have nipped DD's thumbsucking habit in the bud by the time she was 12-18 months. She is 7 and I still catch her with the thumb in her mouth. Drives me crazy for so many reasons, germs and future orthodontics are just the big ones. The people who said "she'll outgrow it, leave her alone" were wrong!!

I don't really have any big regrets so far.

I would be more patient.

I would not be so stressed about things that happen.

I would laugh and smile more.

I would not spend so much time thinking "when they are older it will be easier". I would treasure each moment and each stage of their growth.

I would tell them "I love you" more.

I would see a problem as that, and not "blame". I would work on solutions instead of accusations.

I would talk about always giving 100% in whatever you do.

Apart from all that I think I did an okay job bringing up my children. I get better at it everyday because I am willing to read about parenting techniques and I can see I make mistakes from time to time !

I better stop now.

POPI

re on the thumbsucking= I had a habit of sucking the back of my first finger until I was 10 or so, I had such paranoia about it that I had my first one take a binkie (easier to take away in my eyes)
I homeschooled for two years, I loved it I really did, but he did miss things that he would of gotten in school, gym class for one (I am not athletic, give me a horse and I can do anything, but basketball or football? no way) plus the interaction they get from other kids their age.
Something else I would do differently, my kids are 6 years apart, I think I would have them closer togather, it is such a big gap.
Instead of working so much when my oldest was little I would of liked to of spent more time with him, I remember my youngest early days but my oldest:( he was at a sitter the day he took his first step, the day his first tooth broke through, the day he spoke his first word... I missed all of that, just to make a dollar:(

I would organize photos better.

I would have an envelope or shoe box for for each child to get pictures from (put duplicates in them). Every year of school there is one or two projects needing pictures of them as babies, family pictures and "all about me" layouts that need to get done.

Three children later and many boxes of unorganized photos, it's a real hassle finding photos! I wonder "do I have another copy of the picture?"; "can they cut and glue it on their poster?", "which toddler is which? (two of my DD looked so much alike!"
That's my do over!

I would have never put braces on my kids when they were younger than 13 years old. I was talked into it for both of them at the same time, 11 & 9 yrs old. Believe it or not! 11 yo got them off around 13 and never wore his retainer. All that money & pain was for naught, his teeth are as bad as ever (at 20 yo). 9 yo had to have them a second time, and by that time, he was still under 13 and I said NO, we'll wait. He got them done again at 14 and got them off at 16 and wears his retainer and has beautiful teeth.

In addition to the retainer problems, 11 yo had to get some oral surgery to get some of his teeth to grow in so the brace work could continue properly. I can't help but think that if we'd just waited for all those teeth to grow in on their own, no matter how crooked, all of the bracework would have been done at once, properly and would have lasted.

Aside from that, the only other things I would have wanted to be different were out of my control so no point crying about them now. Good discussion question!

passport---I laughed when I read your post. Are you my long lost twin? My summer "project" has been labeling and organizing 16 plus years of photos. Not nearly done. I always dread those school projects. My kids have learned to carefully remove the old photos, put them in a drawer, and use the same ones each year.

Do differently? Well, I'm not done yet, but maybe nurse my DD for longer than I did. I went back to work when she was 8 weeks old, and didn't have a lot of support for nursing at work. That and probably laugh with my kids more than I do.

I'd have pushed harder to treat DS #1's dyslexia more completely when he was younger, and not stopped tutoring when his reading tested at grade level. His IQ tests much brighter than average and he should read much better than average. So for him, relatively poor reading is still a problem -- and now he has SATs coming up...

I would not have pushed my DS to graduate from high school (which he did). Instead I would have encouraged him to test out early and go to community college instead. Some bright kids are just not meant for high school.

Can't answer your question yet since mine are only 5 and 7.

However, my 5 year old recently stopped sucking her thumb. It started with us putting a sock on her hand when she went to bed. She named it "handy" -- I even thought I'd decorate it like a hand puppet but I never had to. Taking the back off her car seat also helped because her elbow has no where to lean while she sucks. If you can get her to stop for even a short time, they seem to lose the satisfaction they get from it quickly.

Her "suck blister" has gone away and my DH swears her teeth look better already.

I would place my children in a parochial school even if I had to get a job to pay for it. I would not home school him because I am not qualified, but mainly I think interacting with his peers is very important. I believe it is how they learn to get along in society.