Abstract
Family leisure can strengthen the bonds between family members and contribute to children's health and learning. Family leisure also involves work from parents. It is often seen as a duty by parents, incorporating management of the experience and active involvement with their children. Traditional definitions of mothering, as care-givers, leave them with very little opportunity for their own leisure. This longitudinal study examines how motherhood has changed over time through the lens of family leisure. Using family leisure photographs, the paper examines changing ideologies of motherhood as they relate to broader societal changes in Otago, New Zealand. Over 100 years of photographs were analysed using visual qualitative thematic analysis. The findings show that, despite many social changes related to gender stereotypes and the social responsibility of parents, mothers are still the main carers of children. This is despite fathers becoming more involved with their children through leisure in recent decades.