To ask if you find your parents/PILs company boring?

[LordElpuss]

This isn't a PIL bashing or anyone else bashing thread but a genuine question.

PIL live a couple of hours away and we don't see them very often. They are here today and, lovely though it is to see them, I am so bored with their company. We've been out with DD, had lunch and are now having a cuppa before walking the dog but ... they won't be leaving until 8.30pm on the dot (no chance of them going earlier). And I find it hard to make conversation with them and I suspect I'm not the most exciting company either

My own parents are long dead so have nothing to compare it with but I do worry that DD and her future DH will one day find us a bore! Do you feel the same and, if not, what makes them interesting?

I'm just back from lunch with FIL and my DM. I was dreading it and it was worse than I anticipated.

Fil - friends? I doubt it. They will mix with other people of approved social standing of course, but I can't imagine he would ever seek anyone out himself. Interests include following his wife around, poncey tea and being anal about everything.
His wife makes out like she has friends, but I can't imagine that there is anyone out there who genuinely likes her and thinks she's nice, so I'm dubious about that. Hobbies involve being deluded about how marvellous she is, pissing other people off with her lack of respect and tact, and voting tory.

Mil - she's sociable enough with many, but no particular friends to speak of really. Loads of interests though. The environment, conservation, books, films, gardening, hillwalking, wildlife, current affairs.
Fil - a few good muckers, and all the same interests as mil.

In a funny way, yes they are boring but we laugh about it. I enjoy the company of my parents and my in laws and there's rare occasions I get to enjoy it without chasing a child about it's even better.

Mil and I are actually very similar and get on really well .

Only sometimes - my parents are in their 80s but in very good health, active, have loads of interests - ie: love going up to London to the theatre/exhibitions/galleries etc (much more cultured than I am !), Dad still plays tennis (82!!), they do voluntary work, they are very interested in me and my family and love being involved & supportive but not in an 'overpowering' way.

Mum and I enjoy going away for weekends (although I would never share a room with her) and doing shopping/site-seeing/eating out that sort of thing.

What I do find boring is the endless discussions they love to have about current affairs - and they tend to be very opinionated .

Never knew FIL & MIL died many years ago.

Any of you think that your parents/ILs might find you boring?

Just asking.

Nope, neither parents nor ILs are boring. ILs can be infuriating, sometimes (well mainly to DH, lets be honest), but neither are boring!

My MIL is very dull. She is an oracle of local gossip and rumour. Our conversations go like this ...
MIL so, you know Barb and Bob
Me no
Mil yes you do, remember the people that used to live next door to Julie and john?
Me I don't know them either
Mil yes you do, your DH used to know their grandson, Jo, at primary school
Me I've never heard him talk about Jo
Mil oh, well anyway ... Barb and Bob's niece's new boyfriend's parents went on holiday to Tenerife last year too. You might have met them.

And it goes on and on. She is lovely though!

yep I'd say my mil finds my company very boring. She has very different values and she prob thinks fairly negative things about me. After over 20 years of knowing each other I doubt it will ever change.

My p-i-l bore me to tears.Even the dds find a bit of extra homework to do.Thankfully I dont see them often

My Mil is fab, I love her to bits! Shes not dull atall and is genuine and kin. fil is fab outside his comfort zone. If he comes here and I feed him Bacardi he makes an effort and i enjoy his company. If we go out for a meal we get on really well too. In his own home though he's sullen, rude and lazy and I don't know how mil puts up with him!

I suspect they think I'm fucking weird too though!

Oh god yes, MIL in particular undoubtedly finds me boring.
I will say, though, that for over twenty years she has talked mainly about herself, and I've not really felt I wanted to emulate her by talking about myself over her
She doesn't know me at all; she makes stuff up about why I do things anyway. As in: you were annoyed because you were worried about X. No, MIL, I was annoyed because you annoyed me. I keep quiet though. There's more than me involved, otherwise I would never bother.

Nope my MIL is absolutely hilarious she is great craic. FIL is an out and out bastard so with regret for MIL we see less of them than we would otherwise. We regularly spend til the wee hours chatting with my parents.

No, my parents are two of the most interesting people I know and they're fun too. Very perceptive and easy to talk to.

MIL is very sweet, but oh so dull. Nothing physically wrong with her, but she lives a very circumscribed life by choice, is very uncurious about the world, and I'm not sure she'd care much if we didn't visit. And we have nothing at all in common, so we're limited to anecdotes about her neighbours and the weather. We're all ready to climb the walls after 24 hours in her company.

NannyOgg - yes, that is a really good question.

I would imagine my DPs do find me a bit boring - they really love theatre & all forms of culture & none of their three grown up children are the slightest bit interested in anything like that - well, we might go to a popular musical!

They are much more intellectual than any of us & as I mentioned earlier love debating current affairs and things like that, I can remember saying to my mother recently 'can't we just talk about where we are going on holiday'.

Loved my MIL, we lost her Christmas before last and I'll always miss her quick chats on the phone and visiting. She had a dirty laugh, great sense of humour, and absolutely would not sugar coat anything, very refreshing.

FIL and his OH however I could happily not bother with. We have very little to no contact with them, share no interests, don't agree with the way they behave, and always end up in a row when we're with them.

My parents don't bore me, they're both very sociable so always have something to talk about and we have a lot of similar tastes. DDad can be hard work if he gets in a grump, quite put upon, but it always passes.

My lovely Mum has got to the stage where her short term memory has gone. She loves a chat and is interested in the world, but can't remember anything. You can recycle the same conversation several times in about an hour, there's no recollection that you've just told her that 20 minutes ago. It's odd but quite endearing really, and not boring at all in an odd way.

My MIL was a character, full of life even at an advanced age. She always had something to talk about, whether it was the state of health of the old man down the road, or the latest international news. I don't think she really noticed her age at all. Took up playing piano in her 80s, and decided to re-design her garden at the age of 92. Apart from a few requests to take her to the garden centre, she didn't really need any help, quite happy pottering about shifting paving slabs around and digging up shrubs Certainly not a boring person.

I had to think about this because I regularly don't like my parents and PIL very much but no, I don't find them boring at all. My Mum is very funny in fact although you never know if you're going to get jabbed next and so are my in-laws. My Dad is grumpy so I tend to leave him alone but when he's on form he is a good laugh and lots of interesting stories from his army years.

I really, really hope my DC and SiL don't find DP and me boring! I do have another life outside being a parent and GM and I try really hard not to tell DC what to do. I am interested in their lives, but I try not to be over interested. It's a really fine line......

I really loved my DM and DF. So did my DP we used to go away on holiday with them and spent lots of time with them. They have both died and we really miss them. FiL and MiL was a completely different story though......

at some of your replies!

NannyOg - I think MIL might very well find me boring and to be fair she might be right! That's why I worry that DD (9) who currently thinks I'm fab might one day realise what a little life I lead these days and I want to take steps to expand my life.

I love my parents company, we chat, discuss, laugh!

Mil is coming to stay for 3 weeks, and I have nothing to say to her
I have to recruit friends and family to keep any conversation going

Oh god I want to cry!!

Both DH and I get on well with my parents but find his harder work. We can get on well sometimes - meals out with wine especially tend to flow quite easily but if we're at their house in the day they sit with the TV on all the time and their attention always wanders towards it. If they're at our house they're always secretly bereft that the TV isn't on. Basically we get on well with small doses, so why they want to stay here for a week at a time I don't know...

My parents - no, not at all. We live in different countries but I love sitting chatting with them when I do see them.

MIL doesn't bore me, no, but she doesn't seem to have the same interest in the world around her that my mum does (same age, 71) so conversation is more limited.

FIL bores the pants off me! He's lovely and kind and well-meaning, but he just talks and talks. He says, 'when you live on your own you learn to make the most of communication when you do see people, and it makes you realise just how important communication is' (he and MIL are divorced) - but IMO he doesn't communicate, he just talks; it's not a two-way thing. I used to find his stories interesting, but I've heard them all soooo many times now. I tell myself he probably wasn't always like that, it must be age, and I smile and make fists with my hands under the table I once timed one of his stories - 45 minutes. DH and I tried to interrupt to shorten it but he wasn't having it.

No, not boring.

My dad is very funny (if rude, he's taught my children lots of unsuitable songs) - my mum and I can chat for ages.

My FIL is also funny, and very clever. MIL and I can talk for ages about teaching.

I find my grandparents-in-law harder work, as they are obsessed with how much everything costs and how it's not like it used to be in the old days, but I'll let them off because they are 90.

I much prefer the company of my PsIL to that of my DPs. ILs have hobbies, travel, get involved in community things, etc. DPs only talk about what's happening in their local church. DF is becoming increasingly obsessed with his hatred of all things Muslim, and seems to enjoy being in a permanent state of righteous indignation. I'd challenge him on his views, only, as I'm considered to still be a child (at 32...), I rarely get a word in edge ways before one of them talks over me. Love them to bits, but boy are they hard work at times!