All parents parent differently, but we all go through and understand one certain and same thing and that is a lack of time. On becoming a parent you sort of sign a deal that says that you are willing to become selfless. Hobbies you may have once had can sometimes be thrown out, for Adam and I this was our monthly subscription to World of Warctraft - an online mmog (massively multiplayer online game) that we'd played together for years and that had the ability to suck many hours of your day from you without you even realising.
When I was 25 weeks pregnant with Ethan I started writing this blog, initially as a pregnancy diary - somewhere to record how happy I felt at that particular time in my life. I'd just got married to Adam and a few weeks before that had found out I was pregnant - I wanted somewhere to record the happiness I was feeling. My blog soon turned in to my hobby, it was sort of the first hobby I'd ever had separately to Adam. As a result of blogging, I've started to get more and more into photography and though I don't aim to take the more traditional professional looking photos, instead focusing more on my own sort of style, it's something I really enjoy and I suppose now class as a hobby.
Adam also took up another hobby just before Ethan was born, he decided to start collecting and building Lego sets. Being a huge fan of the movies, he'd taken a particular interest in The Lord of The Rings Lego sets that had just been released. What neither of us knew at the time of starting up these hobbies was that they'd one day turn in to something that would enable us to make a little extra income. The great thing is, is that despite how hard we both have to work to make our hobbies profitable, we both genuinely still have so much passion for what we do, me with my blogging and Adam with his Lego (he now makes and sells custom Lego minifigures based on popular television and film characters).
It can sometimes seem that as parents, free time is non-existent, it can almost feel like there's never enough time for personal hobbies. But I believe that it's just about finding something that can work around the children's nap and bed time or nursery and school time. Perhaps it might just be that a change of hobby is needed - something that is a little less time consuming (which is why we gave up playing World of Warcraft). A lot of parents these days seem to opt for taking up hobbies such as scrapbooking, blogging, photography and even trying their luck with things such as entering online competitions.
Whatever you do - personal time or 'me time' as a parent is healthy. It give parents a chance to reset and to recharge. It's really great being either 'Mum' or 'Dad', but it's also okay to sometimes just be you or in my case 'Alex'.
What do you like to do in your spare time? Do you still have the same hobbies that you had prior to becoming a parent?
I love this! It is just how I feel. I will probably do a blog response. We love board games and have some parent friends that we stay at with our daughter just to play them. I personally play a lot less console games. And I also don't crochet as much as I did.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the post. That sounds like really good fun - I'm a huge board game fan too, I've always enjoyed them! xx
DeleteI never really had hobbies or went anywhere. Stayed in the house most of the time. Reason why I decided to become a mum. The only thing I did occasionally was snail mail. I gave that up a few months ago. Poor exhaustion reason really when I was pregnant with Chloe.
ReplyDeleteBefore blogging I was very much the same, apart from playing World of Warcraft of course. Blogging has given me so much, but I love that it's something just for me. xx
DeleteI wouldn't call them hobbies but I used to love reading and would read books usually within a week. Since being a mum i've been on the same book for the last year lol and nowhere near finishing it. The hubby and i were also regular cinema goers and use to go once a week. I couldn't even tell you the last film we watched together in the cinema x
ReplyDeleteLove this post. Before Blogging I really can't remember what I enjoyed doing. In my spare time, when the kids are happily playing together quietly, sleeping or at school I just blog. Of course do the housework to but I always make sure I get time to myself. In the evenings I try not to go on my laptop, but if I have a lot of Blog work then I will have my tea, watch the soaps then come on here to do some work. xxx
ReplyDeleteBefore Zach my biggest hobby was baking, but now I find that it is too time consuming and also creates more mess than it's worth! I intend to start again as he gets older, and I can't wait for us to bake together! For now though, I'm really enjoying blogging as it means I get to use my brain during maternity leave and meet so many lovely like minded people! xx
ReplyDeleteI had so many hobbies before I had two tots, I am now starting them up again slowly as they get older but how I missed them in the baby stages. lol Sometimes though I think I don't have enough time to do this but it helps keep my sanity to have me time sometimes. Wish I also had more space for it...crafts make messes lol
ReplyDeleteLove this post! I just became a mommy to Samantha Julia on 8/6/15. Today was my first day back to normal swing of things but I need to find that balance of doing one thing at a time instead of 20! Blogging and resuming coaching will continue to be my hobbies :)
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