A couple months ago, after I spoke to a group of moms, one of the women in the audience came up to me and shared some of the challenges she’d been going through with her twelve-year-old.

Fighting tears, she told me she wasn’t sure how to handle his behavior.

I could tell she wanted to parent her son in the best way possible. But I could also tell she was questioning herself and doubting how she’d been handling things. (What mom hasn’t been there at one point or another?)

She talked, I listened, we hugged, and I told her that she was a good mom. I saw how concerned she was and how much she wanted to do the right thing.

I wished so badly that I had the “one right answer” for her, but like so many parenting challenges, there wasn’t a cookie-cutter solution.

And even though I wasn’t able to give her anything more than a few suggestions of what I might do in her situation, I saw hope in her eyes when she left — the hope that comes from telling someone else your struggles.

And as I drove home that morning, I thought about some of the times I’ve been in the same place she was: grappling with how to handle a situation with my kids, wanting so badly to know the right answer.

And I thought about the advice one of my friends gave me a while ago about parenting:

“When in doubt, just love them.”

Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT

Just love them.

No matter how many books we read, or how many kids we raise…

READ MORE over at The Mom Initiative today! It’s an amazing site packed with resources and hosted by an incredible team of women. Can’t wait to see you there!