Due Diligence

I guess I'm in a catch phrase kind of mood, because today I began to think about "due diligence," another one I seem to hear more and more. As I returned to work after visiting the fifth of seven middle schools we will be seeing for my son, I couldn't help but think of this phrase. Extensive school choice in New York City is a great thing, but it requires really keeping your eye on the ball. It requires due diligence.
 
Due diligence is doing the research, whether by talking to every experienced parent you know or reading everything you can on the Internet (while being careful not to be swayed by angry people on chat boards) or rearranging your work and life to go on tours and to open houses (in the process of which you get a real feel for how easy or hard it will be to rearrange your work and life, should a school become part of your daily existence).
 
Due diligence is allowing a large chunk of your brain (which you feel as though you don't even have available, once you've allocated chunks for all the other things you have to think about) to be dedicated to the task of discussing, thinking through, ordering and re-ordering, and literally keeping straight, all the school possibilities.
 
Due diligence is focusing on the needs of one child (who most of the time needs much more than yet another conversation about schools) while attending to the needs of all your children.
 
Due diligence is keeping clear the realities without getting overly caught up in the strategies.
 
Due diligence is committing enough of yourself to the process so that afterward, you will know, happy ending or not, that you committed enough of yourself to the process.
 
Due diligence is making sure you've left no stone, even the ones with creepy things under them, unturned. Well, maybe not the ones with creepy things under them--does that really help anyone?

Due diligence is doing enough to avoid "didn't do enough" guilt, even when you know that you will always have "didn't do enough" guilt anyway.

Due diligence is teaching yourself, and the kid for whom you're doing all this (even if he doesn't realize it at the moment) that working hard toward something, even something you don't completely understand and can't completely control, is a good thing. And learning that your due diligence, one way or the other--whether in result, or just in your feeling about the process--will be rewarded.