It’s worse when you are childfree…
I get long explanations about childcare from some friends and their child’s routines, trips to the doctor, arguments at school and because I have no kids myself I get in depth details to make sure I “fully understand”.
I don’t mind some funny stories but otherwise it’s just so tedious, I just don’t need to hear little Amelia refused to wear her coat today or didn’t finish her weetabix when she usually eats it all and a banana.
I thought as I’m getting older I’d receive less updates but although a lot of my friends have older kids they are now on second relationships and having more kids as the first are just getting interesting.
I have to be careful not to let my eyes glaze over or show how bored I am.
I understand my friends love their kids and how important they are to them, I try hard to show interest but some people think their child is as fascinating to everyone else as it is to them.
I have started to be a bit petty to the worst offenders - especially over competitive tiredness. If I get comments like “oh baby was awake all night, they had 3 feeds and even with blue blanket wouldn’t settle, I read 3 little pigs and sang twinkle twinkle and tried again with blue blanket but you will never know tiredness like it”
I’ve started to respond with “No your right I won’t, I had wine and a takeaway with DP, had a bath and a shag and 8 hours sleep with a lie in and breakfast in bed!”
My childfree friends are dwindling, luckily most of them also hate being bored about other people’s kids so know not to do it themselves, when I politely enquire about their kids they say “Little Jacks fine but I’ve come out to have a break from him so let’s talk about something more interesting”
This thread has made me realise though that it’s time for me to end one of my friendships. She’s similar to OPs friend with constant spamming of photos and updates. I’ve tolerated it because I’m aware she’s in the trenches and doesn’t have much else to focus on at the moment. Friendship is a two way street though and her obsession with her toddler means she’s not interested in anything related to my life.
I get the feeling sometimes she’s waiting for me to stop talking so she can start either gushing about the joys of motherhood or lamenting about her little cherub ruining her life.
The one positive about my friends having children (especially the ones who had babies when they were teenagers) is that I saw how hard and boring parenthood actually is. I did a lot of babysitting and despite thinking kids had to feature in my future I realised I had other choices and that I’d be happier and fulfilled without them.