make good choices {there’s an app for that}

It’s a phrase that often leaves my lips …

… when they head out the door in the morning … when they’re about to get themselves into trouble … when we leave them with a babysitter or drop them for a playdate with a friend …

Make Good Choices.

It requires knowing between good and bad and acting consciously rather than impulsively  {which for an eight-year-old boy is very, very challenging!}. Nevertheless, it’s a life skill that will make a big difference in each one of my childrens’ lives and I hope we can encourage them to choose their actions, their words, their reactions wisely.

The funny thing is that while this saying most often pertains to the big moral decisions in life, it also applies to the little choices. What snack to choose. Who to sit next to on the bus. Turning off the reading light at a reasonable time of night. And it’s not just for the kids – I think of this all the time for me, too.

Ryan and I laugh sometimes because we are not always the best decision makers. Not that we make bad choices per say {although getting a dog is debatable}, but it’s the little things – the neutral choices – that get us. Standing in the cereal aisle trying to choose is like mini-torture for my husband. We search and search and search for cars or appliances or anything, really, before purchasing not so much in the name of research, but more for the lack of simply making a choice. And then there’s that dreaded moment in all relationships: “where do you want to go for dinner?” “I don’t know. Where do you want to go?” “I don’t care. You decide”. “No, you.”

But you know what really hung us up in the decision-making field more than anything? Naming our children. Specifically our No.2. He went 8 days nameless because we just could not decide. Finally, the hospital called us requiring that we give our poor child a name so he could officially have a birth certificate and so we made a few phone calls for final weigh-ins and made the big decision.

My cousin married a brilliant man who does smart things like develop apps to help us make big and little decisions – and to make them wisely. I know, totally brainy.  If only it was around when our little baby was in need of a name.

His app is called ChoiceMap and it’s super fun. AND helpful. And free.

He developed an algorithm to help calculate what percentage of perfect different options are for your specific decision. There are lots of preset templates {notice which one I gave input on!}, but also options to create your own based on a specific decision you need to make. You specify criteria, rank by importance and the app will tell you which decision is mathematically the right choice.

It’s just one more way to make good choices.

To download the app head to the itunes store or click here.