Role Reversal and Looking the Part

As a parent, there comes a day when you realize that your child is outgrowing you.  I remember two distinct incidents that took me by surprise:

• After playing all kinds of games with my son throughout his childhood, I spent a balmy spring afternoon tossing a ball to him. He was about 11 years old.  Suddenly it became apparent that he was better at throwing a ball than me.  I no longer posed a challenge.  He was humoring me.
• One day I woke up and faced my son in the kitchen.  We no longer saw eye to eye.  He was taller than me!

With him, it was clear.  With my daughter, a bit more subtle.  She didn't need me to take her shopping anymore; she could get there on her own.  She made her own snacks.  Stuff like that.

Has anyone else had to face this bittersweet reality?  It's what we hoped for, right?

Now that my children are not children, and have a pretty solid sense of where they stand in the world, I no longer dismiss their suggestions and comments as childhood folly.  

That's why I now wear a SPORTS BRA to exercise.  My daughter told me a regular bra is not practical or comfortable and looks amateurish.  Not in those exact words, but I took it to mean I did not look the part.

Yesterday I went for a run (my sports bra and I) on our local bike trail.  Lots of people were out on a beautiful Labor Day Monday, off from work and school and hitting the trail.  It was cool-ish; the kind of day that starts off cool and ends up hot.  Kind of like the workout.

I saw a lot of people biking and running who looked really uncomfortable and it was readily apparent: EVERYONE WAS OVERDRESSED!  Running in big sweats and clunky sneakers that are overpadded, and biking in big sweats that get caught in the bicycle chain.  Plenty of people had their sweatshirts tied around their waists, thereby weighing them down even more.  Several carried big water bottles -- is it necessary to schlep all this stuff around?

If you ditch the unnecessary clothes and accessories and pare down only to what you need for your activity, you'll look like a pro.

Does this mean you'll feel like a pro?  Is this notion analogous to your work wardrobe too?  They say if you dress for the job you want...

My questions for you this week are:

1. Have you ever felt that you have been outgrown by someone else?  That you weren't exactly irrelevant, but that your roles have changed?
2. Do you present yourself like the pro that you want to be, in whatever activity you find valuable?

Let's discuss!!