Standing my ground when it counts most

I think we each struggle to hold our ground from time to time.
Today I had to play hard ball with Cookie.

We are having a power struggle, its been building.
And I know if I give too much I will lose all ground I have
worked for. This is not a battle I wont glory over.
But it is a fight, that if I lose, I lose big.

She is nearly 12 going on 30. I love who she is.
I love how strong willed she is. I love how little girl she
is, when no one is watching. I love how she is learning to
to be a junior high girl! I love that she is a leader among friends,
and has no problem following as well.
I love so many things about her.

I know that this power struggle is normal. I have been through it
with her sisters before her. (not the boy.....perfect son you know!)
I would rather my girls were hard headed and sassy, rather than
weak and usable. So I encourage her fight!

But I fear that if I do not enforce boundaries and rules,
curb bad attitudes and stay firm and consistent....
that I will lose the battle to let her grow up at a normal rate.
I don't wont her to miss any part of her childhood, as she
speeds on to be big. I don't want her to grow angry and
unreachable.

So today, after I was told "What Ever" and then hung up on,
I took her phone, the laptop, the iTouch and all other Needed Things.
We have since talked, and she has come to the knowledge that
mom means business.

I wont cave to the tween arguments, or the weeping, or even to the
threats and wild attempts of control her father keeps emailing.
(Like that will EVER work again!)

But I will stand my ground, because, although the battle is making me
crazy and I am tired of the struggle, I know that the prize for being
a tough love kind of mom, is the happiness of my child.
She is my baby, my Cookie, she has my heart!