I parented the child I was, not the kids I had. Now I wonder if that was a mistake.

The author, pictured with her husband, is now questioning the path she chose for her children.

Courtesy of Kimberly Witt.

I went to a small school in a small town where everyone knew each other.

I thought my sons would benefit from a similar, close-knit environment like the one I had.

Now that they're in college, I think a larger school might have suited them and their needs better.

I graduated from high school in a class of 30 students in a town of fewer than 800 people.

I finished school with many of the same kids I started kindergarten with.

By graduation, I knew their parents' names, their childhood nicknames, their pet peeves, and the fastest way to annoy them.

At that time, I was terrified of a big school experience .

I liked my tiny pond where I knew not only my school of fish but our teachers, too.

I imagined my tiny self in a huge school, getting shoved into lockers, being yelled at by intimidating teachers and upperclassmen, and failing at everything for the rest of my life.

I was glad I didn't have to deal with any of the hassles I imagined other kids did.

So when my husband and two sons, middle schoolers at the time, moved from a small town to a larger city, my own childhood anxiety kicked in, resulting in a parenting mistake : I chose my sons' middle and high school based on who I was as a student, rather than who they actually were.

Terrified that my kids would get swallowed up by a massive urban district, I intentionally enrolled them in a small, tight-knit public magnet program .