Who has had a meaningful conversation recently? I mean a real conversation.
A conversation that doesn't include the words poo, wee or booga.
A conversation that does not include some sort of logistical plan around after-school activities and getting home from work.
Or a conversation that doesn't include a cartoon character, a piece of Disney/Pixar merchandise or a request to play:
a. Playstation
b. DS
c. X-Box
d. Your iPhone
Not me.
Are we too busy to have decent conversations now?
And how many of us talk fast?
And how many of us tap our feet impatiently when it takes someone FOR. EV. AH! to spit their words out?
Or do we finish someone else's sentence because we don't have time for them to do it?
I have been a little guilty of this.
I am moving so fast in all parts of my world that my conversations have turned into conver-hastens. (see what I did there ;-) ?
The faster the better.
Or is it?
My conver-hastens with WD include comments like:
"Can you be home by 6pm tomorrow night to take over from Mum? Am working in the city."
"Here is the quote for the new door. Shall we get 4 panel windows or 6?"
"Sorry. Have run out of Up'n'Go!"
Not to mention the conver-hastens that may be one-sided and under my breath and normally involve socks on floor, taking the bins out and only washing up one plate when there is a pile of dirty dishes underneath it in the sink.
My conver-hastens with my mum, who helps out a lot with the kids, hover around:
"The tuna mornay is on the top shelf of the fridge."
"WD will be home by 6pm."
"It's bath night tonight. Good luck!"
Usually these comments are shouted over my shoulder as I am running out the door dislocating my shoulder with the weight of my laptop bag.
And conversations with friends. I miss them. Now we have to make special time to have REAL girlie conversations. Twice a year I have a weekend away with my high school girlfriends. Every now and then I try and catch up with my other girlfriends over coffee, or at someone's house.
But what starts out as a meaningful conversation ends up being punctuated by:
"1YO! Don't sit on 4YO's head!"
"Don't climb up there."
"Don't swing off that!"
"Where's your pants??????"
1YO still hasn't grown out of the habit of pulling his pants down in public.
The only meaningful conversation I have had recently is with my kids and that involved an emotional debate about which Octonaut had which accent, which divided the camp indelibly.
We also had a very interesting conversation in the car yesterday about why Mario doesn't have a station wagon. And I just love talking about all things cars and mechanical......bleuurrrgh.
The other meaningful conversations I have are with my clients, and seeing I was delivering training in Advanced Financial Management for Events last week, discussing the GST, cash flow forecasting and contingencies aren't exactly up there with my idea of scintillating dialogue.
So, I will struggle along, booking in time here and there with WD, Mum, my wonderful girlfriends so we can have decent conversations that don't include references to bodily functions.
And hope that when my kids are a little older and I have (maybe) a little more time to myself, that I will still be able to string a sentence together.
Penny Webb loves being a mum. And working. It’s when she put the two together that she ran into trouble. When Penny had two children within two years and tried to keep her career and her sanity intact, she discovered it was one of the more difficult things she had ever tried to do. That’s when the Working Mums MASTERCLASS was born, followed closely by the Sshh Mummys on the Phone blog.
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