What are examples of good decisions and bad decisions Scout makes in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird?

Most of Scout's poor decisions in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird reflect her hotheaded temper and tomboyish nature. However, by the end of the novel, she has come to associate being a girl with bravery, and her acceptance reflects in her good decisions.

Early in the novel, Scout's hotheaded temper is first reflected when she attacks Walter Cunningham Jr., blaming him for her having gotten herself into trouble on the first day of school. After she gets into trouble for explaining to her first-grade teacher, Miss Caroline, why Walter doesn't have any lunch and is unable to pay back borrowed lunch money, Scout accosts Walter in the playground and rubs "his nose in the dirt" but is stopped by Jem, who, after hearing what happened, invites Walter home for lunch. Scout's attack on innocent Walter, as well as her treatment of him during lunch, certainly count as poor decisions.

Scout takes to heart Atticus's warning that she must start fighting with her head, not with her fists. Plus, upon the influence of role model ladies in her life, like Calpurnia, Miss Maudie, and Aunt Alexandra, Scout begins to accept her role as a girl. She particularly accepts her role when she observes her aunt and Miss Maudie put on brave smiles and continue entertaining their guests in the face of the news of Tom Robinson's unjust and untimely death; she decides that if they can be brave by acting like ladies, so can she:

I carefully picked up the tray and watched myself walk to Mrs. Merriweather. With my best company manners, I asked her if she would have some. After all, if Aunty could be a lady at a time like this, so could I. (Ch. 24)

Scout's observations of Miss Maudie's and Aunt Alexandra's ladylike behavior at a time when they must be brave shows us that Scout has come to associate being a lady with being brave, since it takes a great deal of bravery to be able to put others first at a time when you only want to think of your own distressed emotions. Scout makes a good decision in deciding she can be a lady if the role is associated with bravery.