Female weekend hobbies

[sillysmiles]

Frequently men having "hobbies" that take them away from their family/house at the weekends is frowned upon.
But surely what we should be doing is encouraging women to also maintain a sense of self and own interests away from the family? IMO it's good for the family and for the individual.

So wise MNetters - hit me up with your weekend hobbies where you make your husbands/partners/SO weekend widowers.

@Seafog southeast but not near a beach. I love your idea of basing a weekend around it though.

Gardening
The gym for Pilates or yoga, then swim in outdoor pool (if weather nice & not too many children take a book to read on lounger) & a soak in hot tub, spend ages in the showers with body scrub, hair mask on etc, come home and garden some more.
Should socialise more but cba!

@Bugbabe1970

I think families should spend their weekends together

That's fine if you all want to do that, or if you have a lot of shared interests, but some of the happiest couples I know are the ones with strong separate interests.

I think the OP is right that there needs to be balance, not one partner always doing the babysitting/driving kids around so that the other one can use the time for marathon training or whatever. It was like that for me when my kids were younger, and dh would do his martial arts classes but I couldn't really commit to anything outside the house as I was managing the kids. I think I'm making up for that now and I feel happier for it.

Some couples I know do everything together as a family with the children. Supermarket shop, going to the park, all the usual weekend stuff. They will all go to the clubs their kids do and wait outside. Personally I find that a bit intense. We have periods of family time within each weekend and at other times will take turns to take the children out, play with them at home and do our own thing eg meet a friend or go to the gym.

Road biking!
Takes me out of the house anywhere from 2 to 8 hours a ride and I love just zoning out or listening to a podcast (one earbud only) and its such easy exercise to me.

Granted, I have no kids and my SO is totally cool with my hobby but my local women's ride group does have a few ladies with kids and they still joined the Wednesday afterwork rides (approx 50km) and Saturday long ride (75-100km). The group rides were pre-covid of course but will resume eventually...

I'm curious what age your children are to allow more time intensive hobbies?

My DD is 20 months, she doesn’t know any different. She was plonked in a stable at a few days old. My DH does his share though which gives me the time.

DH works some weekends so any activities will need to be doable by 1 adult until they can either go independently or have made friends to swap lifts with.

DH has always done a lot of childcare at weekends, he accepts that I need an "identity" beyond "mum".

Loving this thread!

Mine are running (only in the mornings, as soon as I'm up, before work), sewing, crocheting, gardening, reading (a lot). I'd love to start cycling but I'm just too scared. I'd also like an allotment and to learn to play violin but don't think I'd have the time to commit. The lack of time is why I stopped playing golf.

I love going away somewhere different every so often, alone. I really like doing things on my own.

I started an introductory archery course yesterday.

@UnFringed

Single with shit ex so no one to widow and not enough time to do them BUT when I do have it:

• shooting
• horses

I don’t shoot the horses.

Actually lol at this which is rare for me 😆

Mine at the ferrying them round stage until he gets his full driving licence. I did do walking one night a week. They gone flaky havent committed back to it.. hope catch up with few friends once things open. Would love live near a beach. Cafes on my own or walks

I log into a virtual world called Second Life. It has a bit of a reputation for getting people addicted and obsessed with it, and with people spending too much real life money on in-world currency etc. I however only play it at the weekend, usually when the kids and hubby are busy doing their own things. I have styled up my avatar really nice using free group gifts, and freebies I've collected at events (in game) and on lucky boards, hunts, etc. There is also the SL marketplace where I search for specific things I want as gifts, and my inventory is busting at the seams with stuff! I like to explore and I also build in Second Life and sell my creations on the Second Life Marketplace. I .are a few virtual 'Linden' dollars which are handy to save up to buy something occasionally, or to upload textures for my building projects, but I don't really spend any real life money on any of it. Sometimes I don't log in for a few weeks, but it's easy to dip in and out of. I have made a few virtual friends, but I never, ever give any real life info about myself. I've encountered a few weirdos on there but being anonymous, and keeping real life info completely private, it's not an issue. You can mute/block people too. Sailing is another thing I like to do on there. I can't afford to do it in real life.

I'm also into gardening and dressmaking, so if I don't feel like logging into the virtual world, I often do these instead.

Sorry, in my first comment that should have said, I make a few 'Linden dollars..

I went for a massage yesterday and left DH with the baby. It was in a lovely town local to us and my plan had been to sit outside a cafe with a book afterwards but it was pissing down so I bought a hot chocolate and parked up somewhere to drink it, read and watch the rain. Felt like a new woman afterwards, longest time I’ve been away from the baby in 9 months (only time really).

My hobbies aren’t particularly exciting and are all quite home-based - reading, cooking, puzzles. I sound a riot don’t I? I also love going to the theatre, museums and galleries,
boozy lunches with friends - but they’ve all been out for a while obviously.

There’s a little community farm thing nearby that has some woodland too - I’m taking DD to a baby version of forest school there and I’ve noticed they do river swimming (for adults) which has caught my interest - I think I might sign up for that.

Where do people recommend for yoga weekends?

Running
Pole
Sleeping
Walking
Skating (not often though)
Although I do have plenty of DIY and gardening to be getting on with.

@PointyMcguire

I have horses, DH insisted on us buying a property where we could keep them at home so he might actually see me sometimes

Your husband is far brighter than mine... Did he come up with this idea by himself or did you plant the seed and wait for it to grow?

I'm a lone parent, who works FT Mon-Fri during term-time and I've an autistic toddler (also have a 17yo) - my hobby is keeping the toddler out of mischief. We do baking and painting and go big walks at the weekend. I get very little free time, work maintains my sanity 🤣

I normally sing in a choir. Performances take me all over the place, week days and weekends, sometimes overnight. I really miss it 😔

@Duplobuplo

Lying in bed eating biscuits?

Here's your mate I do that on a Sunday and watch telly. It's my designated day off from stuff. DH has Saturdays to do what he wants

@NeverDropYourMoonCup

Only if it's a Mint Club.

Have you ever done that thing where you slide the Club biscuit out of the paper sleeve, then unwrap,it really carefully, so you can fold the paper up again, but empty - slide it back into the sleeve, and use it to fool someone?

Dsis and I used to play this trick on dad every time we had a Club. And he always fell for it - though now I think that wasn’t entirely genuine!

Roller derby

Chess tournaments are a nice way to fill a weekend. Many of them even start on the Friday evening. If you find one far enough from home, you get to stay in a hotel.

Haven't yet escalated to the week-long tournaments in Malta, but they are very tempting.