A soccer mom is a mother who typically ferries her children to school and various activities, including soccer, and is associated with political groups. She is usually college-educated, Caucasian, and relies on middle or upper-class income from her partner. The term has been used negatively to suggest a lack of sympathy for working mothers or rigid political ideals. However, it is an overgeneralization as working moms are also responsible for similar tasks. Soccer moms reflect national voting trends in the US and are a valuable political audience.
His day can start at 6 or 7 in the morning, preparing breakfast for the children. He ferries them to school in a minivan or SUV and perhaps uses a call list to announce a rescheduled game or remind other parents of a PTA meeting. After school, he picks up children from one or more schools and drops them off to do various activities, including soccer. On the weekends she takes the kids to games, prepares snacks and cheers on her kids. This is the traditional soccer mom.
This term came into use in the 1990s, as a means of describing a group of mothers who may not work outside the home. Of course there are exceptions. Many soccer moms work from home or work full-time jobs. In addition to the tasks listed above, mom is associated with political groups and alliances and has been used as a term to describe the voting population of stay-at-home moms.
Very often the soccer mom can parent young children, while her husband or partner earns their single income. She is usually college educated, she is Caucasian and relies on middle or upper class income from her partner. The term “soccer mom” has also been used in a negative sense to suggest that these women are less sympathetic towards working moms and have little to do other than being the method of transportation for her children.
In fact, there is very little truth to the notion that mothers who parent their children full-time are not working. Some studies suggest that stay-at-home moms can work the equivalent of two and a half full-time jobs. Yet the term “soccer mom” can be thrown around as an insult to suggest a stay-at-home mom’s lack of sympathy for working mothers, or rigid political ideals.
The soccer mom appears to reflect, at least in the United States, national voting trends. The transition from Democratic to Republican presidents was a national shift, and both elections for President Bush were close. These moms are by no means all conservative or all liberal, but they tend to be a good sample of the split vote group that Americans represent. In Canada, this figure or “hockey mom” is considered more liberal or less associated with being a political group or voting force.
In one sense, the term “soccer mom” is an overgeneralization of what mothers do. Working moms are also responsible for getting children to school, to games and other activities, and can be equally involved in schools or volunteering. Moms in general, not just soccer moms, matter politically and the wise politician knows that appealing to this audience is invaluable.
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