Keeping yourself and your conversation interesting (aside from kid talk).

[daisymommy]

How do I phrase this?
I used to feel like a well-rounded, fun, interesting person, who could easily make conversation with people and my husband about witty, well-informed topics.
Now? It's all about my kids.
I want my brain back. I feel so boring lately. I want to go out to dinner with my husband and have something interesting to talk about. But I don't even know where to start. I'm sure that *doing* interesting things would help (see my other thread on hobbies for that). But what else?

Do you have favorite websites to read up on current events? Where do you get your conversational information? That sounds so nerdy, I know :tongue5:.

I'm just in a rut, and could use some help livening myself up!

[BabbyO]

When you figure it out, can you share with me?! I try not to talk about my kid all the time...but I do. I guess that is why I find myself gravitating toward other parents now...

We just had a small get together with some college friends. One couple doesn't have kids (though about a million nieces & nephews) and the other does. It was such a weird evening trying to talk about non-kid things...we constantly ended up back there.

[DietCokeLover]

I could have written your post. I am with my kids 24/7, so guess what I talk about?

Would love to see what others chime in with.

[weech]

I rarely talk about DS - it's just not my style. We go out with friends pretty regularly and we talk about all sorts of things. We all know each other so it's not like we need to have topics saved in our back pockets in case conversation gets dull.

Just off the top of my head, we talk about our jobs, politics, our neighborhood, weekend plans, vacations/travel, what we were like when we were younger, food (our own cooking as well as restaurants), each other's lives (some of us are graduating from master's programs, have interesting things going on with family, etc).

[athompson]

I listen to NPR, read the Chicago Tribune each day and sometimes swipe DH's Wall Street Journal before he gets to it. I completely get what you are saying though.

[lmh2402]

i don't

my sister calls me out on it constantly

i have become the person that talks about her kid all. the. time.

i hate it

but i have no idea how to change it, it's just that he, and what's going on/new/funny/challenging/frustrating/etc with him, is always on my mind

[luckytwenty]

This is one advantage to working full-time. I spend my mornings in a frantic rush, have had tearful meltdowns in traffic jams, come to work with cookie handprints on my butt, end up working till midnight because there was a school play I couldn't miss--but, I have plenty and plenty of non-kid stuff to talk about with my husband. I guess there are trade-offs to everything!

[hillview]

NPR is great. Lots of news and also lots of random interesting stories. The New Yorker magazine also has great articles.

We talk about random stuff, work, vacations, health care policy, drug development, where we'd like to retire, what to make for dinner.
/hillary

[chottumommy]

This is one advantage to working full-time. I spend my mornings in a frantic rush, have had tearful meltdowns in traffic jams, come to work with cookie handprints on my butt, end up working till midnight because there was a school play I couldn't miss--but, I have plenty and plenty of non-kid stuff to talk about with my husband. I guess there are trade-offs to everything!

:yeahthat:

I am in the same boat, the only problem being, hubby and I are so busy that we don't have time to talk.

[Uno-Mom]

It never hurts to read The Onion. :)

I find that our friends are always asking us about parenting. They start most conversations with a question about Sprog or a comment on our latest FB post about her/pic. Whenever I'm going to see my boss, I have to prepare a cute answer to her question: "So, what is Sprog doing new these days?"

But, most of our friends are social service / therapist friends who are interested in human development topics.

What about digging deeper into topics related to keeping a household: good cooking, gardening, diy... I get into lots and lots of those conversations. Most people like to talk about their favorite foods, wine or gardening adventures!

[soon2b4]

For local news, politics, world events, I am most likely to find my info online or on TV. I tend to see headlines on my homepage that I will then look up or ask DH or others about. I do not mind at all being the person who asks and listens in a conversation, I find most of the people around me love to share their opinions.

For politics, I do receive email updates from local politicians (state representative, etc.) which help to keep me informed. I got on those lists because I contacted their offices about particular issues at some point along the way - you can find them online. (Kind of fun when I can surprise DH or ILs with info or questions as they are political news junkies, and I am not.)

On a more frivolous note, I read Entertainment Weekly so that I have some knowledge about movies, TV, music, books that are out or coming out.

Sports are a common topic with family and DH - we are Aggies, so the whole leaving the Big 12 drama has been a big topic for a while. I know a lot of mamas who are not into sports so much, but info is so easy to find online and can really generate conversation with those from other demographic groups, if that is something you are looking to do.

ETA: This has become easier as DD1 has gotten older, though. I am sure it will change some as soon as DD2 decides to get here.

[momof2girls]

It's hard, but we have a lot of differing interests so new developments in our particular interests are usually good conversations. I like astronomy, he likes history so we discuss those often.

[american_mama]

Huffington Post is good for interesting, light news, usually political, generally with a bit of liberal editorializing that personally makes it even easier for me to know what everyone (liberal and conservative) is talking about.

I learn a lot about pop culture watching Glee and then reading about it on the internet, specifically reading youtube comments on the Glee videos. I can only stomach 2 pages of comments at most, but everybody repeats the same comments anyway, so...

[elbenn]

NPR is good. Also, for politics, watching "Meet the Press" is good for catching you up on the politics (which is pretty interesting now with the run-up to the primaries).

[TxCat]

I usually listen to NPR in the mornings while I'm getting ready or driving to work, or at night when I'm driving home or going to the gym - keeps me up on current events and some cultural stuff.

nytimes.com and wsj.com for general news reporting.

Slate is a decent online magazine - lots of current events and pop culture reporting/editorializing. They also are good about weekly podcasts for a few different columns (culture, politics) so you can listen in your car or when you are taking a walk, etc.

Another good podcast can be This American Life - it's hour-long episodes but the pieces are really well-done and can be very thought-provoking.

For magazines, I like the Atlantic, the New Yorker, and Eating Well (usually interesting articles about nutrition, environmental issues related to food production, etc.).

My DH is also sweet in that he will indulge in my occasional interest in trashy celeb gossip so I will occasionally peruse people.com or usweekly.com or pinkisthenewblog.com. This used to be a bigger indulgence of mine when I was working a lot more, like 80-90 hrs/week - when I got home, I wanted to basically turn off my brain so celeb gossip was a good escape.

If you like sports and pop culture, Bill Simmons' columns can be pretty entertaining: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/6837774/the-glorious-return-mailbag. Not only will you be up on the latest controversies in the NFL, but it can ignite a fiery debate in your house regarding Kate vs. Pippa.

[daisymommy]

Thank-you Thank-you!
Lots of great ideas here that I'm going to follow up on.
I also just remembered that our Time magazine subscription recently expired. It was chock full of current, interesting articles that for awhile, when I was reading it, provided conversation points with DH and I. I think I will renew my subscription.

I also realized that a huge part of the problem is a) I'm a SAHM, so that cuts out work topics. I chose this role, I love it most days, but I'm having a mini-early-midlife crisis here ;). And b) we don't travel or make weekend plans. We're home-bodies. But that's getting boring. Gonna' have to change that! Putting that on my list...check out local events and plan some things on the calendar.

[lowrioh]

I have a radio next to my kitchen sink so I listen to NPR while I cook and clean up the kitchen. I also WOTH but most of my friends aren't that interested in science geek talk.

[maestramommy]

We get the Atlantic monthly. When I have a free moment I'll at least read the cover article. Also, Dh reads the NYT daily. Since I'm on FB and some of my friends are avid NYT readers, I get their posts and will often read up on their links. That at least covers a bit of socio and political stuff. Along with educational stuff. This gives Dh and I plenty of other stuff to talk about, even if some of it is parenting related.

I don't listen as much as when I had a commute, but whenever I'm in the car alone I listen to NPR.

[m448]

No tomatoes but frankly I find current events to be on par with the weather as far as conversation. I'd rather hear about someone's interests, thoughts, history and aspirations than dance around politics.

[Serepta]

so it helps that my DD is still too young to know the difference, but I read my magazines out loud to her in a sing-songy voice. She giggles and I get to do some reading that doesn't involve rhyming words. And that gives me something to talk about!

[KpbS]

I love to listen to NPR but I can't do that with the DC around anymore--it's too noisy and they have too many questions and the material isn't for children but sometimes I'll watch BBC news on PBS. The news can be a downer but I like knowing what is going on in the rest of the world and it certainly helps out conversationally.

Definitely check out your local events calendar for some fall festivals or hit a couple of state parks/attractions for a fun day trip with the family or just you and DH.