I'm being driven crazy by a relative who's staying for Xmas. They are very attention seeking, they engage you in 'conversation' which is utterly one sided, invade your personal space by standing really close and basically just talk at you, endless tales about things they've done and people you've never met. There's no room for any actual conversation, you're just there to witness and give attention. Nothing you add to the conversation is acknowledged or relevant to their stream of consciousness.
If you engage them in a task then they ask endless stupid questions like ' where's this' or 'should I do that', even though they know the answers, just as a means to extract yet more attention.
My DC are hiding in their rooms and I'm missing out on spending time with them. I'm running out of avoidance strategies. I don't want to be rude but literally the only way to escape is to cut off mid sentence and remember something you just have to be doing elsewhere.
This Relative recently lost their partner. They've always been like this but in the past they've been diluted somewhat because they had company. Because of this I want to be caring and supportive but its unbearably draining and exhausting just being round them. AIBU not to be more empathic and just give them the attention they are clearly craving or is it completely reasonable that I take time out for myself and my DC and leave relative to their own devices.