Sylvia Jeffreys: The Amy Poehler comment that reframed my idea of hobbies for a working mum

A late-night interview with comedian Amy Poehler recently appeared in my Instagram feed, and while I am drawn to everything Poehler says and does, this particular statement made me feel seen, heard and understood. 

She was explaining that as a working mum, she works and she mums. That’s it. Full stop.

Firstly, chef’s kiss to the use of “mum” as a verb. It has long been overlooked as a “doing” word. 

Watch the video above

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Secondly, I – and every other working mum – now has an answer to the frustratingly vague and shruggable question: “How are things?”

As a mum of two with a job that requires a lot of coffee and adrenaline, life is full in the best possible way, and I consider myself fortunate to be in the thick of this glorious time of life. 

But it means there’s little room for anything else other than the occasional doom scroll or, on a good day, three pages of the book you’ve been reading for 18 months. 

And this brings me to the reason why many mums – and dads – may feel a little defeated when faced with the question: do you have a hobby?

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Of course, there are many benefits to having a hobby; feeding your creative self, nurturing a passion or gaining a new skill. These are all worthy uses of your time.

But for time-poor parents who find it hard to commit to a dentist appointment, a creative hobby belongs firmly in the “maybe one day” basket.  

But perhaps the problem is in the way we define them… we are shackled by our concept of what constitutes a hobby.

I asked ChatGPT (if this were a hobby, I’d be Club Captain) “what are the most popular hobbies?”

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The response was this:

1. Drawing and painting
2. Photography
3. Crafting eg. knitting, scrapbooking, DIY projects
4. Writing (stories, poetry, journaling)
5. Playing a musical instrument 

Giving me some hope, the AI bot also suggests physical activities such as running could be considered a hobby. 

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Kids’ activities even parents struggle to solve

But at what point does running move from a simple form of exercise to a certified hobby? Do you need to commit to a certain number of fun runs, or consistently post strava stats to Insta?

It’s a grey area, no?

Anyway, in order to make the world of hobbies more accessible – and to acknowledge the many impressive pursuits that working parents fit into their busy lives – I’d like to propose some additions to the list that we can more realistically claim as life-enhancing hobbies.

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• Listening to podcasts while folding washing
• Calling friends on the way to preschool pick up
• Wordle 
• Shaving your legs once a week 
• Composting 
• Consuming hot coffee 
• Finishing a TV series before the internet spoils the finale 
• Cleaning up your camera roll 
• Inventing bedtime stories 
• Long showers 

If you are ticking off any of these activities, then you, my friend, are nailing it. 

So go forth and conquer your newly-defined hobbies and the next time someone asks you “how are things?”, let them know your legs are smooth and your potato peels are in the ground. 

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