To wonder how you deal with boring people

[callherwillow]

Oh I know it's awful, but does anyone have any suggestions as to how I can deal with elderly relatives monologues on how wonderful he is, how talented and how in awe everyone is of him?

Am. Ready. To. Scream!!

[AyeAmarok]

How mean.

Just smile and agree.

[madmother1]

One day. You too. Will be old.

[Laiste]

Watching with interest. I hate to say it ('cos she's lovely otherwise) but MIL is terrible for this.

Me, how wonder i was and how no one in my work place could do without me - by Laste's MIL. Every.time.

[elQuintoConyo]

Smile and nod. Sing theme tunes in your head.

Be kind.

[Rainbunny]

I'll have to ask my friends and family how they cope with me ;) Seriously though you could be describing my dad, he's not boastful just capable of monologuing endlessly. My dh says I'm beginning to display the same trait gulp!

[Scribblegirl]

If you can, try and get them into a group - boring people tend to be easier when they've others to bounce off (and it saves you having to come up with something interesting by way of response!)

[Laiste]

MIL's only 65!

[Mrscaindingle]

Being old doesn't mean you are automatically boring or boastful

It may mean that you repeat the same stories having forgotten who you said them to in which case the nice thing to do when hearing them againis to act like you haven't heard them before.

[ChicRock]

DH grandad tells stories of his life, his youth, his work, etc, in long monologues, we've heard them all hundreds of times now and know them off by heart.

I amuse myself my asking him a question about the next bit of the story just before he gets to it - which gives him the opportunity to tell it with a bit more gusto because (I presume) he thinks I've never heard it before and I'm genuinely interested. In my head I'm talking along with him, word for bloody word.

[callherwillow]

Oh gosh, no implication that old = boring!

Just so happens this particular relative is both.

I have to admire photographs of pictures he painted and listen to tapes of him singing and there are a lot of both!