Yesterday I blogged about teaching our kids, especially our teenagers, to dress appropriately.  When I listed two defining ideas I thought that this applied to mums as well.  Do we dress appropriately?

1.        Are we functional for the activities of the day?

2.       Are we respectful of the people we are going to be with?

One of the things that I have enjoyed about having older children is that they express thoughts to you that you as a parent didn’t think existed.  My children can read me and know what type of day we will have by my morning actions – and this includes what I am wearing.  I wonder how old they were when they started to pick up on that.  We’ll never know!  But now that I do know I need to use that to my advantage.  I need to be dressed for success.

Dressed for success at home means something entirely different than the ads we see in glossy magazines – tight skirts, white silky shirts and a long string of pearls all finished off with 4” heels!!  (My back hurts just thinking about it!!)  Dressing for success as a mum means something entirely different but it doesn’t mean we need to be any less intentional about it.

One thing I’ve noticed my mother-in-law do is change throughout the day.  Initially this seemed to me like a waste of time but when I see the activities she is involved in through the day it makes sense.  She quickly changes into her farm clothes and heads out to do the gardening and pick veggies, she may put a house dress on for the morning and later in the day she has a quick shower and gets ready to go to town. She takes the time (though she is quick) to be ready for whatever activity is in her day.   I tend to dress for the day and that then limits me for different things that come up.  This has been a hard lesson for me to learn.  I need to be functional for all the activities in my day and that may mean more than one change of clothes – and that is okay!

I think though that mums tend to be mostly okay in the area of function – but do we consider the respect issue when we are with our children?  What does that look like?

1.        When our children are little we respect them by being able to join in their world.  This means we are able to get dirty, messy and possibly covered in paint or water (I personally prefer water, but paint happens too!)  Do our clothes stop us from enjoying life with our young children?

2.       When our children are older respect still means entering into their world but their world looks different. For example, it is important to my girls that I look nice and I have been challenged with the idea that when I go out with my girlfriends I would dress up ready to enjoy myself – my girls deserve no less!   Entering the boys world means “No Fuss” which means I can still dress nicely just don’t fuss about it (or about them!!)

So as you set out for your day have you considered if you are dressed appropriately?  Is there some item of clothing that you are wearing that will hinder your effectiveness today?   Is there something that will hinder you from entering into your children’s world?