Dressing "mom-ish" (i.e. tired and cheap) ...

All-American mom running errands in a "mom-ish" look of white trousers, burgundy jersey blouse, blue bag, no make-up, unkempt hair, toting parent's nectar (a.k.a. coffee). Thank goodness I have progressed!

I love Mother's Day. Being a mom to an awesome teenager, I love the little extra attention I get on the 3 holidays that normal teenagers will actually be civil to their mothers -- these are Mother's Day, my birthday and Christmas. The  other 362 days out of the year (363 on Leap Year) I get the typical grunts and eye rolls. I know motherhood isn't for everyone and that is perfectly fine in my book. I am one of those people who will try almost anything once, thus why I have ONE child and never had a second thought about having another one. Needless to say I embarrass him regardless of what I wear. If I try to dress trendy, he will say I'm trying to hard. If I dress down, he says I'm not trying at all. Once he hit 16 I decided I wouldn't win no matter what I wore so I should just dress for me. My son calls my look the "Stylish Mom Look". Not too trendy but not too "mom-ish".

I asked him what "mom-ish" looked like once, he said, you know, like all the other moms, tired and cheap. OUCH! Tired and cheap?!? Well, duh kid, of course I look tired and cheap. Most parents look tired because when you are little children, we are up half the night worrying about your health, your esteem, whether we are feeding you enough, your college education. We are tired when you are older because you are driving, showing independence and we are worrying about car accidents, who you are hanging out with, what you are doing, etc. In other words, we are tired because we are taking care of your needs before our own. And we are cheap for the same reason! Those size 12 men's shoes you are wearing now cost more than my first car buddy, of course I look cheap!

Anyway, I'm glad I have progressed to a style that does not look "mom-ish". And to do that, I have adopted the mind-set that I will not buy disposable clothes (e.g. cheap clothing that will stand up in 3-4 washes and then have to be tossed due to pilling, fading, rips, etc.), get my nails done bi-weekly so I look polished and not unkempt, do something with my hair each day, never shop in bargain basements (it's in there for a reason and it's never a good reason), and -- this is the biggie -- never comment on one of his friends outfits/items of clothing/etc. with the phrase "oh, where did you get that, I'd like to have one of those?"

The bottom line is: there is a big difference between looking "mom-ish" and looking like a "Stylish Mom". You have to find the "Stylish Mom" look that works for you. Again, dress for you, not anyone else. And for goodness sakes, spend some money on yourself every now and then. We all love our children, want them to have the best we can give them and will sacrifice anything for them. But we should not be martyrs in our style for their fashion, sacrificing our good taste for them because we should all be able to be stylish!