In looking back at my most recent post, and all previous posts about my Coworker-Who-Yammers-About-Her-Kids-All-Day, it occurred to me that it might freak out some of the moms who I know might peruse this blog. Let me set the record straight: I am totally fine with listening to normal parental talk about children. People talk about what they experience, and for parents, your kids comprise a huge part of your day to day interactions (unless you follow the Britney Spears mode of parenting).
The issue comes when the talk becomes SO boring, and SO in depth about every single mundane detail that happens in the life of a tot – whether it be the generic kids’ television programming that entrances the child, the shape of the turd deposited in the diaper, or the exact location of the precious widdle drool splatter on the kitchen floor – this, I do not really care to hear, and especially not every single time I interact with a parent! I wonder if Coworker-Who-Yammers-About-Her-Kids (I really need to come up with a better nickname) would drone on about the same topics, if they were about herself. Would she foist accounts of sundry minor medical problems that happened to her? Probably not, because she’d be a sane person and realize that nobody wants to hear that shit. So why should the same topics be so amazingly captivating, when the subjects are her little girls?
I’m sure she’s a wonderful mom and her world revolves around her kids, but the rest of the world will not stop spinning if little Marie catches a fever. And Lisa’s doodle art, though proudly hung on her mother’s wall – looks to non-parents like pretty much any other 5 year old’s doodling. (Well, maybe it could pass for modern art). My parents, though loving enough in their way, never treated every little utterance I made with such reverence. My mom even threw out all the “novels” I wrote when I was little, claiming that they were “taking up space.” (Those novels were written at my creative peak, sadly).
Anyhow, maybe it’s a matter of perspective – though I do find babies cute these days, I’ve just never been much of a kid person. Who knows, maybe kid people are really super interested in what little Lisa watched on TV last week! Or that Marie ate only half the crust on her peanut butter and jelly sandwich this time!
…or, maybe they’re just as bored as me.
One Comment
Haha, no offense taken on my part.
A major part of social etiquette is talking about things that interest BOTH people, and it sounds like this woman is kind of oblivious to that.
However, might I point out that you are a very nice person and it’s entirely possible that your feigned interest might be taken as genuine? :) (Of course, I can talk about Squeakles all day, but if the person I relay a little story too doesn’t continue on with the same topic, I know to drop it and move on to things that are more mutually interesting!)
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