Oh there you are.

I ran into a friend of mine the other day that I hadn't seen in quite some time, actually, not since Little P was born. After the initial greetings and hugging, she said, and I quote, 'You still look like you'. I must of had a look of puzzlement on my face, because she quickly back pedaled saying 'Not that you look bad, I mean, it's great that you still look like you now that you are a Mommy and not at work. I mean, well, you look like you'. Um, yeah. 


This conversation went on for quite some time, with her digging a bigger and bigger hole. Eventually she managed to get to the point. She was concerned that when I had made the decision to not go back to work, that my fashion sense would pretty much go out the window. Apparently, to her, stay at home moms basically live in sweat pants (or their more 'fashionable' cousin, the yoga pant), t-shirts stained with baby food (or spit up) and ancient sneakers. In her mind, we let our looks go, don't look after ourselves and pretty much spend all our time channeling our fashion stylings on our little ones.


Now, while I am giving her a little leeway here, as she is a) under 25 and b) is very much single and has no kids, I was still somewhat surprised that people still have this vision of stay at home parents (not just moms). I made a conscious decision some time ago, that I needed to be a good role model to Little P in all aspects, and this included looking after myself and how I present myself to the world. Given, most of my high heels have been put into retirement (at least for the time being) and my suits, pencil skirts and dress pants are put away for now, I like to think that I look 'put together' most of the time. Hey, there are gonna be days when just getting out of the door in one piece is going to require an act of God, but I figure, if Little P sees her Momma making an effort to look good, then as she grows older she will to.


It made me think though. After all this time, do people still really view stay at home parents as people who have given up on fashion? Does choosing not to work full time negate your desire to look good? And conversely, if you do make the effort to look good while being at stay at home parent, are you viewed as 'trying to hard'? 


Or am I just over thinking the whole thing? What says you, my faithful readers? 


Till next time, stay fashionable.


K

Mommy-ism #82: nothing to wear. I know, we've all been there. You just get used to the way your body was BEFORE you had a child and now, it's like a foreign country that you have to learn the topography of. I can't tell you the number of times I have stood in my closet, sighing, trying desperately to find something to wear. In the end, I usually go with something tried and true - hey, if it ain't broke, why try and fix it?