How to support your husband’s hobby

His hobby…and my hobby

My husband has a hobby. Actually, he has two. He loves hunting and ham radio. He learns about each of them, watches YouTube videos about them, attends conferences, and generally spends his free time learning to be better at these things.

I like to sew and read. I’m learning to quilt and crochet. I have an expert quilter that I’m learning from and I pin lots of free crochet patterns. I spend my spare time doing these things.

I have no desire to hunt or meet new people on ham radio and he has no desire to sew or crochet. Thankfully that’s totally okay.

Why a hobby is important

In another article I talk about why hobbies are important and how to choose some as a couple. But a solo hobby is important too. When we engage in a hobby by ourselves we are meeting new people which is good for our social health. A hobby also expands our brain power by giving us an opportunity to learn something new.

Ways to support your spouse’s hobby

There are four key ways to support your spouse’s hobby. These are fairly easy and can be implemented today. Let’s get started ~

Financially

We can support our spouse’s hobby financially. We can budget funds to allow him to buy new gear or take a trip. Financial support is very important because family budgets are tight, especially now. When we devote money to our spouse’s hobby we are letting them know that their hobby is important to us, too. No extra budget for this? That’s okay. Consider giving birthday or Christmas gifts that support his hobby.

Time

Be sure to allow time in the schedule for your spouse to do his hobby. My husband likes to get on his ham radio when he gets home from work. I know this so I make a point not to demand his time when he first gets home. In other words, this is one way he relaxes. I show him respect by encouraging him to do this. Hunting takes more time, so building time into our schedule for him to get time away to hunt is a big deal.

Likewise, my husband doesn’t ask me to do other things when I’m sewing or doing crochet. He understands that this is relaxing for me and helps my mental health. He schedules fun activities with our son when I’m at quilting class. In this way he’s adjusting his schedule to support my hobby.

Ask questions

You don’t have to love your husband’s hobby to show interest in it. Ask questions! We each love to talk about our hobby. Not sure how to engage in a conversation about the hobby? Remember the 5Ws and an H: who, what, where, why, when, and how. These are a great start to questions about any topic.

Talk about it

When you tell others about how great your spouse does at his hobby, you are letting him know that he’s attractive to you. You are building him up to others. This is HUGE, especially for wives to do for their husbands. When our husbands hear us saying nice things about them, they want to be the hero we make them out to be. It’s a great reward cycle.

Now is the time!

Now is the best time to begin. Start by setting aside time and tell others how great he does at his hobby. It may take more time to build in financial margin, but make that a goal. You can totally strengthen your marriage by supporting your spouse’s hobby. Get started today!

With love,

🌸 Andrea