Does It Really Matter? I Don't Know

Claudia's post The Lifelong Question: Does It Really Matter? definitely rings a bell with me. Although we aren't seeing some of the extreme behaviors that Claudia deals with on a daily basis, I often find myself asking the same question. "Will what I am doing now for this child ultimately really matter?"

The truth is, I don't really know the answer. At the moment, I'm feeling unusually pessimistic because I'm fighting a cold and I feel crummy. The kid's behavior sucked when she got home yesterday, and I finally sent her out of my sight because I couldn't stand being around her. My ability to cope with sucky behavior asymptotically approaches zero when I am sick, so I sent her to her room so I could feel crummy on the sofa without having to worry about responding appropriately.

Go away child, before I bite your scrawny little head off.

Today will be a busy day as we will be meeting with "Danielle's" behavioral therapist (after a week's hiatus), her resource teacher and her tutor. Hopefully, her behavior will be better, and I'll get over this cold soon. It's hard to be a Love and Logic parent when I feel so extraordinarily crappy.

In the bigger picture, though, I really can't answer Claudia's question. Does it really matter? Certainly it makes at least a small difference, because these children are now formerly abused as opposed to currently abused kids. However, it's hard to know whether this will ultimately have the desired effect, as we won't know those answers until our children get married and have children of their own. I suspect we won't have the real answers until decades after our jobs as parents to troubled children are long over.