A battle of wills

Today, while picking up Amelia from nursery she had a total meltdown about not wanting to wear her coat outside. Its currently -3 degrees so I was instant she wear her coat just till we get to the car, but it was too late. She went into full on screaming and throwing herself on the floor mode. I felt totally judged by all the other mums around me, even though they probably weren't judging me in any way but I felt like I had to stick to my guns, I wasn't going to back down and I think I may have even said the words "you're not going to win this!" So I'm literally wrestling with her and I managing to get one arm in a sleeve and she wriggles it out while I'm trying to get the other one in. At this point I decided the other mums had had enough of a show in How not to manage a tantrum and I just scooped her up and carried her out, while trying to push the buggy out and carry the various buts of arts and crafts she had been ejected with.
I managed to carry her under one arm kicking and screaming and squirming until she slid out of her coat as we crossed the road. In a bid to catch her  and get her out of the road, the buggy rolled into our parked car and poor Ayrton just looked at me like this is an everyday occurrence (Which I assure you its not!) She sobbed all the way home and is now sleeping soundly in her bed.

Now I've had time to wind down I realise the error of my ways. I should have just let her go out without her coat on. It was a one minute walk to the car and she was unlikely to have caught hypothermia in that time. I was so focused on not giving in to the tantrum that I forgot my mantra of pick your battles. Yes I may have somewhat won this one but was it worth it? No, and this was certainly not a battle I needed to fight.

Now in order to mend some bridges and ease my guilt I've got an afternoon of cake baking planned for us.