Washable Workwear Wednesday: Fiona Zip-Front Knitted Dress
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Who’s ready for fall? There’s nothing more fall than argyle.
This knit, zip-front, A-line dress features a classic navy and burgundy argyle pattern. Just add a pair of your favorite boots and a sharp jacket. If prints aren’t your thing, you’re in luck! This dress also comes in a rich hunter green.
Boden’s Fiona Zip-Front Knitted Dress is $249. It comes in sizes 0 to 20/22.
Admin Note: HUGE THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE DURING OUR TECH TROUBLES THIS MORNING!
Looking for other washable workwear? See all of our recent recommendations for washable clothes for work, or check out our roundup of the best brands for washable workwear.
Inspired by the post about wishing you could do as much community work as your husband: I’ve been musing over something similar in my relationship. Things seem so much easier for DH than they do for me. And then I saw a reel that said something like, do you feel ragey when DH says it’s his turn to watch LO but then immediately starts scrolling on his phone. It was a light bulb moment for me. It’s easier for him because he lets it be easier.
A lot of men (happy people?) give themselves permission to be imperfect. You can watch the kid without being a hawk. When I watch LO, I’m fully involved in what he’s doing. I’m playing, switching play activities every few minutes when he does, following him around, guiding him away from the cat food before he gets close. DH doesn’t do any of that. He turns on sportsball or scrolls on his phone and lets the baby do whatever. He’ll clean up the cat food if the baby gets into it. He doesn’t try to be playmate/jungle gym/silly dancer/radio/story teller/cat food protector and on and on. Of course it’s much easier and more relaxing! I wish I knew how to let go like he does. Anyone else have this dynamic? Advice on chilling out?
I’ve come to the realization that my job takes so much out of me (mentally) that it has impacted how I show up for my community. I always thought I’d be one of those moms running the PTO or the booster club. I’m not. After a full day of work, I have no desire or energy to do it. I will show up and volunteer for special events when they need warm bodies, but being the actual organizer doing the work? Nope. And that’s one of the things I said I would do when the time came. And now it’s here, and I’m not, and I’m sad about it. I’m probably saving myself a lot of trouble, too (lol), but my reason feels crummy. My DH is the super involved volunteer that I always thought *I* would be. He leads a committee at church, does the finances for our kid’s booster club, and still shows up to volunteer at events. None of it stresses him out. Full-time work does not seem to exhaust him the way that it exhausts me, and it’s been hard for me to reconcile. How can we be living the same life, but I struggle with it so much more? Other people in my office manage to coach their kid’s travel softball team and, trust, their jobs are much harder than mine. I have been feeling a big sense of failure lately over this very thing. Why can’t I be more? And better?
I was the mom who was considering quitting my job last fall when my elementary schooler couldn’t handle after-school care. He ended up getting used to it/improving and the year went really well after a bumpy start. However, the start of this school year is going along the same lines, and I think everyone has less patience for my kid who is a year older and struggling with the same things (getting really worked up and taking play too far with his friends turning into aggressive behavior). I am again looking for an after school nanny, but I couldn’t find one last year that would work on the books. Mostly I’m hoping that if I pick him up a little early for the next week or two he’ll settle in and we’ll be OK like we were last year. Any other advice, things I should think about? Thanks!
Any tips for how to get a 5 year old to help with chores? I admittedly dropped the ball on getting this to be a normal part of our routine earlier – I’m an exhausted solo mom and it was just quicker to do everything myself. Now my kid is old enough to do some task, and the teachers at school tell me he loves to help the teachers tidy up, and the kids all clear their plates etc after lunch. Yet at home it turns into a battle every time. I’ve made some tasks “his job” and told him he’s really good at them and that it helps me so much when he does them, but after a few days he lost interest and keeps making excuses. I’m really only asking him to set the table and clear the table after dinner (it’s just the two of us, so it’s minimal stuff). Last night he was like “but you don’t understand, my hands hurt SO MUCH I can’t possibly do it” and it turned into a whole battle.
I’ve talked to him about the fact that we both live in this house and everyone is expected to help out, but he’s not receptive to this idea.
What worked for you?
I need to throw a vent out into the void. I’m a single mom who’s always been a single mom, so no co-parent. For the most part we get along ok. But the last couple of months have been a freaking disaster. I have been dealing with some mental health stuff, that is treatable but requires a million appointments. My daughter is dealing with some gastrointestinal stuff that is not going to hurt her long-term but also requires a million appointments and creates a ton of mess and laundry. My shoulder randomly started hurting so I’ve added in acupuncture appointments somehow. The house is a mess and I’m spending way too much money on takeout.
I’m lucky in some ways – I work for state government so our health insurance is phenomenal, for instance. But omg it’s been such a slog.
For the non-food allergy parents, at what age are you comfortable having a kid with food allergies come over without their parent? At what age are you comfortable feeding them food you provide vs food their parents provide? And are you comfortable administering epinephrine if you have to?
We just started first grade here, and I think we’re getting closer to the age where my son is not going to want me to come to play dates. But we are not at the age where he can reliably determine what is safe for him or when he should use his epinephrine in an emergency. It would be helpful to hear how parents of kids without allergies feel about supervising kids with allergies. We tend to default to hosting the play dates, but that’s not going to hold up forever.
My 7 year old does not stop talking once he gets going, especially with adults. If given the opportunity to chat, he will go on forever. Is this normal? Something to manage/discuss? How? usually with adults more than kids – like, my sister is at our house, and he just talked – basically AT her – for like 45 minutes this morning. It’s like mansplaining + little kid excitement + not a give/take conversation. He struggles a bit with friends (but I haven’t seen him talk to kids like this — and also his interests are not super aligned with most boys his age – loves magic and fairy tales, not into sports). He was an only child at home with my husband and me during the pandemic, so sometimes I wonder if it’s like the puppy that wasn’t correctly socialized, and just missed some important social development. No teacher has ever flagged it – I just notice it when we are with other adults. It’s like, if an adult is around, he wants to capitalize on talking to the adult, to the exclusion/exception of everyone else, including that adult getting a word in.
I was the poster that shared re my DH and date planning yesterday. Thank you all for your responses. It really helped me realize that I’ve been holding on (and partnering from) a place of pain that isn’t my current reality, and like my therapist always says really being “overly responsible” for a lot, even when I have a willing partner in DH. It just became easier to let myself default to “I will do it”. I have no doubt having another family member pass, this time on DH’s side, triggered a lot of this for me.
Neither of us is perfect, but I feel that now I’ve been out of survival mode, and I can actually focus on letting go.