Get Ready For Hockey Mom in the Dictionary

Contributed by Harold Witkov

Open any modern dictionary and you will find the word soccer mom: n. Forever busy American suburban mother whose time is often spent transporting her children from one athletic activity or event to another.

Look for the word hockey mom in the dictionary and you will not find it. Not yet, anyway.

The term soccer mom entered the American vernacular during the 1996 presidential election between Bill Clinton and Bob Dole. A soccer mom was identified by the presidential candidates as a stereotypical type of woman to be wooed. She was a well-rounded suburban mother. She was educated. She was married. She (maybe) worked part-time. She devotedly drove her children from one activity to another (in her SUV or minivan), and, she had a political agenda; she wanted to elect a politician who cared as much about her children's future as she did.

Soccer is usually the first organized sport opportunity a child gets to play. Sometimes starting as early as pre-school age, organized soccer is for everybody. Designed primarily to be a non-contact sport, soccer provides a great opportunity for children to get lots of fresh air and exercise, and, most important, it is safe.

Ice hockey, on the other hand, is just the opposite. It is not for everyone. It is specialized (one has to skate) and not for the faint of heart. Hockey is a rugged contact sport that features high sticking and body checks.

So what is the difference between a soccer mom and a hockey mom?

A hockey mom is a soccer mom, new and improved. She might start as a high school basketball star. Perhaps she wins a beauty pageant. She hunts and fishes and can field dress a moose. A hockey mom will find time for her large family, and time to be active in the PTA. A hockey mom can discern right from wrong and acts upon her convictions. She might run for city council and win. She could become mayor, governor, or even Vice-President of the United States.

A hockey mom makes it on her own. A hockey mom is a mover and a shaker. She wants the President to care so much about her children's future that she is willing to one day be the President.

Open any dictionary to the middle of the letter H section and you will find the following alphabetically listed words: hobo, hock, hockey, hockshop, hocus-pocus. Someday in the not so distant future, you will find, sandwiched between hockey and hockshop, the following:

hockey mom n. a self-made independent mother who fights for what she believes and can do it all [origin: inspired by the life of Sarah Palin]