How's that workin for you?

As a kid and even now, whenever my mom notices that I am bound and determined to do something a certain way no matter how hard I am making life for myself, she will patiently listen and then gently ask, "how's that workin for you?"  That little adage was wringing in my ears the other night as I was having a battle of wills with one of my children for the umpteenth time this week.  I have been bound and determined that my kids will accept the "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit" rule.  While it works ok with some of my kids... some of the time.  Lately there has been a certain child for whom that rule doesn't work at all!  There are daily...almost hourly battles about clothes, cup color, the amount of milk (if any) in the cereal, complaints about the way I draw a picture that I was asked to (aka ordered) to draw, frustration about the way their seat belt was buckled or the way I pronounce certain words...I could go on and on.   I have to add that this same child can bestow love and tenderness in a way that melts my heart and brings me such joy also on a daily basis.  But, the battles... the endless battles are fraying my nerves and making me batty.   Tonight as we were battling over which blanket to use for bedtime and I was determined not to yield  "you get what you get" and all that... I could just hear my mom's voice in my head saying, "Mary how's that workin for you?"  The answer...HORRIBLY!  I think the "pick your battles"  saying needs to replace "you get what you get blah blah blah" as my motto for parenting for a while.  Maybe I will limit battles to matters of safety and respect and this child can have pretty much whatever else they want. Sometimes you have to lose the battle in order to win the war.