What does "pick a battle" mean in the following article? especially the word "pick"? Thank u !!
Picking Your Battles
By Lorilee Craker
"NO PANTS! I want to wear my pajamas!" My three-year-old was filled with righteous indignation over my suggestion that it was time to get on a shirt and pants for preschool.
His arms were folded over his chest, and his lip jutted out in defiance. Irritated and about to run late, I dug in my heels. "Ez, you have to wear clothes to school."
"I am wearing clothes!" The child even stomped his foot at that statement. But he did have a point. It wasn't like he wanted to go flouncing off to school in his birthday suit, although that scenario was certainly possible. Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, I figured, hoping fervently we wouldn't.
Faced with this flannel-clad bundle of opposition and with about five minutes to put out this fire - or fuel it - I made a choice to let this one go.
"Ez, you may not talk to me like that, but you may wear your Thomas the Tank Engine jammies if you ask nicely." Stunned that he could actually be allowed to do so, Ezra acquiesced. He unfolded his arms, un-pouted his lower lip, and then asked nicely if he could please wear his pajamas to school.
The thought flitted through my mind that my mother never, under any circumstances, would have allowed her little child to attend school or any other public function wearing pajamas. She would have as soon burned her bra in a front-yard bonfire and declared herself a patriot of the women's liberation movement.
But I, semiliberated and wearing a bra, picked a battle at that moment. Or rather, I picked "no" on fighting that particular battle. Why? Well, it's preschool, not the SATs. You know, finger painting and cookie baking, an unstructured, winsome place where whimsy and wonder abound. I knew he would be sufficiently warm and decently clothed, and also that his whimsical teachers wouldn't blink an eye over Ezra's one-man pajama day. (Indeed, Miss Susan and Miss Catherine celebrated his entrance with great fanfare and made a big fuss over how silly and funny and wonderful Ezra was to wear his pajamas to school!)
Picking Your Battles
By Lorilee Craker
"NO PANTS! I want to wear my pajamas!" My three-year-old was filled with righteous indignation over my suggestion that it was time to get on a shirt and pants for preschool.
His arms were folded over his chest, and his lip jutted out in defiance. Irritated and about to run late, I dug in my heels. "Ez, you have to wear clothes to school."
"I am wearing clothes!" The child even stomped his foot at that statement. But he did have a point. It wasn't like he wanted to go flouncing off to school in his birthday suit, although that scenario was certainly possible. Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, I figured, hoping fervently we wouldn't.
Faced with this flannel-clad bundle of opposition and with about five minutes to put out this fire - or fuel it - I made a choice to let this one go.
"Ez, you may not talk to me like that, but you may wear your Thomas the Tank Engine jammies if you ask nicely." Stunned that he could actually be allowed to do so, Ezra acquiesced. He unfolded his arms, un-pouted his lower lip, and then asked nicely if he could please wear his pajamas to school.
The thought flitted through my mind that my mother never, under any circumstances, would have allowed her little child to attend school or any other public function wearing pajamas. She would have as soon burned her bra in a front-yard bonfire and declared herself a patriot of the women's liberation movement.
But I, semiliberated and wearing a bra, picked a battle at that moment. Or rather, I picked "no" on fighting that particular battle. Why? Well, it's preschool, not the SATs. You know, finger painting and cookie baking, an unstructured, winsome place where whimsy and wonder abound. I knew he would be sufficiently warm and decently clothed, and also that his whimsical teachers wouldn't blink an eye over Ezra's one-man pajama day. (Indeed, Miss Susan and Miss Catherine celebrated his entrance with great fanfare and made a big fuss over how silly and funny and wonderful Ezra was to wear his pajamas to school!)
