Why is it so hard to shop for clothes? Well, for me it is. 

Yesterday afternoon, my husband surprised me with a shopping spree. I decided to start at Ross since they have great bargains, and I hardly ever leave there disappointed. I had forgotten how hard it is for me to find clothes, until I started scouring the racks in search of blouses and dresses. 

I like to think that the normal thought process for someone my age would be "Does this look cute?" and the question of age appropriateness. I am WAY past screen tees, short shorts, and low rise jeans. That's easy enough with cuter blouses and mid-rise to high waist pants. But then enters another question "Is this appropriate for a mom?" because after all, I am a mom. That doesn't mean that I have to dress matronly, but it does require a bit of consideration when purchasing clothes.

I'm not going to lie. There are some misconceptions about young moms, and a few are based on how we dress. A young mom dressed provocatively will most likely receive the "I see how got she that baby in the first place" look, and that's not me. 

So what does dressing like a mom mean to me? I still don't have all the answers.  I definitely don't want anything low cut in the front or a short dress, that shows off EVERYTHING when I bend over to pick up my daughter. I'm not feeling super tight jeans either. The cutest clothes I see, often violate these self-set rules. Maybe I need to stop looking for "cute" clothes and find another adjective for the criteria. I want my daughter to look at me as her role model and if I'm wearing something inappropriate, then I'm doing her an injustice. I put my mom into my mind. Would I want to see my mom in this if I were a child? Would it send the wrong the message to an impressionable child? Would I want my daughter (mom or not) to dress like this when she becomes this age. 

So, do I shop in Juniors or Ladies? Juniors obviously had the cuter clothes whereas the Ladies section doesn't seem to flatter me at all. They never seem to have anything in my size and I'm a little to tall for petites. I struggle with this all the time. I guess I'm a mix a both. Not ready for too plain, ill fitting clothes and past wearing tight, skin bearing clothes. I keep thinking, once I hit 30 this won't be an issue for me but that's a little over 5 years from now.

Are you a young mom? How do you balance this? Where do you shop?