足球妈妈的一天日常：A Typical day of a soccer mom

Soccer mom：A mother who spends a lot of time taking her children to activities such as music classes, sports, etc. It is often used to refer to a type of middle-class mother. （直译：足球妈妈，对应中文：宝妈）

足球妈妈（英语：Soccer mom）一词指北美中产阶级家庭贤妻良母型妇女。她们一般住在郊区，花大量时间接送小孩去参加足球等课外活动。因为足球妈妈一般是中间选民，这个词自90年代中期开始常在美国选举中被提及。她们平时忙于家务，不关心政治，但是对家庭、儿童相关的选举话题很敏感，也比较喜欢英俊的候选人。

1996年美国总统选举中，比尔·克林顿被指为依赖足球妈妈的选票。住在郊区的妇女选克林顿和其对手鲍勃·多尔的比例是53对37，而住在郊区的男性选择多尔的比较多。2008年美国总统选举中，共和党副总统参选人，前阿拉斯加州州长莎拉·佩林一贯把自己称为“冰球妈妈”，希望塑造自己平凡美国妇女的形象，以获取好感。

学校门口一到上下学的时间就会有些拥堵，倒不是因为学生太多，而是接送的家长太密集。放眼望去，几乎每个稚嫩的身影旁边都会跟着一个拎着书包和水壶的大人影。到了周末，这一对身影还有可能会出现在钢琴、绘画、舞蹈或者武术教室的门口。在国外，这种接送的任务一般都有妈妈来完成，而且她们还有个特别的称呼——soccer mom（足球妈妈）。

Amy doesn’t mind being called a soccer mom. With two of her three sons (ages 12, 10, and 8) playing on two teams each, every season adds eight practices and/or games to her weekly calendar, most requiring her to ferry multiple kids back and forth. This on top of school, art and music lessons, holidays, play dates, and birthday parties.

Amy works full-time from her home office, as an investment advisor for municipalities. Somehow, she fits in training for half-marathons, two book clubs, and serving as a class coordinator and a team manager. She can be spotted every afternoon walking several kids to a practice, some her own, others handed off to her in the great square dance of after-school activities, when groups head to the Monroe Center for theater classes, to religious instruction, or Garden Street for dance and music.

Around 3 p.m., the sidewalks of Hoboken fill with these entourages, the littlest kids holding hands to cross the streets, bigger ones dashing ahead to the end of the block, but always stopping at the corner. Some go by car, but most are on foot, bike, or scooter.

The first few weeks are the most hectic until everyone is signed up and settled into his or her activities and teams, and the who’s-taking-whom-where patterns have emerged. It’s a distant cousin to the suburban carpool. But without the confines and seat belts of a minivan, the adults herding these fluid groups through the streets need more than eyes in the back of their heads. They need nerves of steel, an encyclopedic memory, and a lot of pretzels.

There’s an old saying that if you want something done, ask the busiest person to do it. That certainly holds true for soccer moms like Amy. What does it take to manage it all? “A very detailed calendar, a lot of patience and, ultimately, remembering that it’s all about my boys,” Amy says. “And maybe a few glasses of wine!”

足球妈妈一般指住在郊区、已婚、有学龄儿女的中产阶级女性。她们被美国媒体描绘成驾驶休旅车，终日忙碌的形象。在既定印象中，她们把家庭和孩子的利益置于个人利益之上。这个词来源于这些妈妈们送小孩去踢足球，并常坐在场边看的景象。“足球妈妈”一词最早出现在媒体上是在1982年，当时麻萨诸塞州有一个叫“足球妈妈推助俱乐部”的组织。不过这次见诸报端是因为其中一名成员的丈夫偷了俱乐部为当地足球联赛集资的3150美元。

直到1995年为止，这个词很少在报纸和杂志上出现。但是一次丹佛市议会的选举让这个词流行起来。一名中年女性候选人苏珊·凯西提出的口号是“市议会里的足球妈妈”，引起广泛响应。凯西是一名拥有博士学位的政治学专家，她认为这个竞选口号向选民展现出平凡邻家的形象，显得更值得信赖。这一短语旨在把成功女性对男权社会的挑战柔和转化，特别是打消保守人士对职业女性不关心家庭的担忧。凯西最后以51%的选票当选。

1996年共和党全国代表大会中，“足球妈妈”成为全国热门词汇。当时共和党候选人向媒体暗示比尔·克林顿针对的投票人口主要是“足球妈妈”。《华盛顿邮报》提出，这个词是专为政治活动创造的。共和党顾问稍后描述“足球妈妈”为：“在市场上关键的中间消费者，在选举中关键的，她们的决定将影响整个选情”。

在1996年美国大选中，足球妈妈被认为是最抢手的中间选民，时常被媒体提及。最终受到郊区女性青睐的克林顿赢得选举。在选举期间，足球妈妈最常被提及的属性是她的母亲地位，以及对家庭的奉献。当年美国语言学会把“足球妈妈”选为年度词汇。《波士顿环球报》的专栏作家把1996年称为“足球妈妈年”。

I asked Amy to describe a day in her family’s fall schedule. This was a typical Wednesday last year. （相关阅读：一个足球妈妈的日常）

6 a.m.: Amy’s oldest is an early riser. Since he can get his own breakfast, Amy tries to get an hour or so of work in before the other two come thundering down the stairs.

7 a.m.: Breakfast, getting dressed, packing lunches, where’s your homework? Remember who needs to bring his instrument (saxophone, guitar, and ukulele respectively) for music lessons and who needs what athletic equipment. The oldest son leaves at 7:30 to walk to school with friends so that they can stop at Church Square to get in a little basketball.

8 a.m.: Amy leaves with the younger two, sometimes picking up a few other kids on the way.

8:15 a.m.: Passing Church Square, Amy yells at the oldest that he’ll be late if he doesn’t hurry.

After getting in her run, Amy has the next six hours to focus on her computer. Working from home provides the flexibility to be at her kids’ practices and games, but she still has to put in a full day’s work. Rather than a lunch hour or coffee break, she grabs something out of the fridge and throws in a load of laundry on the way, or puts together some kind of casserole or pasta bake for dinner. Because, as you’ll see, after school is when the real fun begins.

3 p.m.: Amy arrives at school with whatever equipment was forgotten that morning (cleats, shin guards and so forth). She joins dance moms carrying ballet bags, the fencing mom with an enormous bag of foils, theater moms with scripts and jazz shoes, and cello moms who will certainly be enlisted to carry the thing home. All remember to bring snacks, or face kids whining to stop at the cupcake store. Arrangements are made as to which kids go where.

3:15 p.m.: Arrangements are re-arranged when kids emerge, begging for play-dates.

4 p.m.: The middle son needs to be at practice uptown at 1600 Park. Amy usually takes three other boys on the team as well.

4:45 p.m.: The youngest has art class at the Monroe Center.

5 p.m.: The middle son needs to be picked up at 1600. In spring, the oldest and middle son need to be at the Little League field by 5 p.m.

5:45 p.m.: The youngest gets picked up at Monroe, along with his best friend, who needs to be dropped off at home.

6 p.m.: Pick up the older and middle son, bring them home, and get them to start homework. They are starving, so out comes the aforementioned casserole.

7 p.m.: The youngest is due at 1600 for his practice. Amy is the manager of his team, so she usually stays until he is done.

8 p.m.: They are all home. Anyone who hasn’t eaten yet does. Usually it’s Amy and her husband, Sean, who is home by this time. Homework, showers for all (Sean supervises this part), maybe a half hour of TV, then bedtime, when Amy can get back to her office to finish her day’s work.

Easy as pie, right? This year, the family schedule will change a little, because the middle son will be able to walk to school and back with his own group of friends. All three boys will continue with Hebrew School three times a week (The oldest will have his Bar Mitzvah in 2016). Fall soccer is followed closely by basketball, and in spring, Little League and Travel Soccer begin. The photo shoot for this story had to be pushed back a day because—oops—Amy forgot that her oldest son had basketball practice—a good reason for a soccer mom to jigger the schedule! Amy is forming a third book club, which I know because she’s asked me to join. I’d love to.
If I can find the time.