Slutty mom or Frumpy mom?

Is there no middle path? Now, I may be drawing the dividing lines pretty heavy and thick, but, seriously, the style options out there for moms are slim!

I mean, I am happy to be the size I am now and I want to celebrate that. I don't want to be hidden in the suburban burqa - the matching sweat suit and sneakers - no matter what J Lo has done for the tracksuit. Nor the frump-o-rama of matching cutesy-poo. Does that mean tight clothes and belly shirts (when will the belly shirt go away??)?

I grew up with the idea that the belly stays covered. Legs should show, and if you have cleavage, then flaunt the décolletage. But that paradigm is all topsy-turvy now. The Kids are wearing belly shirts w/skinny low-rise jeans. I mean, I'm fine w/my Tiger Stripes, but the rest of the world doesn't need to see them. Plus, I'm not a kid, nor am I a slave to fashion. I want to look good.

So, if I show some décolletage, show some leg, (but not in a mini-skirt), wear some heels, does that automatically make me a "cougar"? What's a cougar, you ask? This may be nasty 20-something bar slang, but a cougar is a middle-aged woman who dresses "slutty." Jill Foster Chancellor Brooks Abbott of the Young & the Restless is a classic cougar. Especially in the days when she was seducing Brad Carlton, but that's another story.

I guess when it comes right down to it, I'd rather be the Slutty mom than the Frump.