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Let's Normalize Mom Hobbies

Let's Normalize Mom Hobbies

Specifically, ones that involve leaving the house and the kids.

Melinda Wenner Moyer's avatar
Melinda Wenner Moyer
May 15, 2025
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A few years ago, on a Sunday afternoon, I was exercising in my basement while my kids were watching a movie. As I stretched and tried to drown out the screeching sounds coming from my TV, I read an essay in

Culture Study
by
Anne Helen Petersen
titled, “Who Gets Quality Leisure?”

She started out the essay by sharing a list of stereotypically male-dominated hobbies:

  • Fishing

  • Hunting

  • Playing in sports leagues

  • Watching sports on television

  • Watching sports live

  • Cycling

  • Distance running

  • Woodworking / tinkering / carpentry

  • Car repair

Next, she shared a list of stereotypically female hobbies:

  • Gardening

  • Fiber arts (knitting, sewing, weaving, crocheting, quilting, etc etc)

  • Baking

  • Reading

  • Jewelry-making

  • Decorating/design

  • Organizing

  • Crafts, broadly conceived

Then, in a passage that I read approximately 45 times and sent to all my friends, she wrote:

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