When my wife was pregnant with our first child, I frequently found myself engaged in a conversation that went something like this:
THEM: So when’s the due date?
ME: September .
THEM: Wow! That’s only four days from MY birthday!
ME: Oh, neat.
I know most of the persons who did this didn’t mean to find a way to make our child about them and yet it didn’t take long for me to get frustrated with this sort of conversation. All I could do was be kind to them and celebrate them for a brief moment before they went back to asking me about anticipating the arrival of our child (so yeah, it would end up about “me,” anyway, so…).
I’ve decided to change it up when speaking with someone about their due date or wedding date or so on. My birthday is in July. Now, when I am the person asking, I offer two options depending on the answer:
ME: So when’s your due date?
THEM: July.
ME: Good for you! / Coming up fast! / Prayers for health!
Or:
ME: So when’s your due date?
THEM: October.
ME: Wow, my birthday is nowhere near that!
A little satire can go a long way with someone who is tired of addressing the same topic by answering the same questions with the same talking point. Give it a shot.
-nm
I’ve had a few people tell me to “have that baby early” so that it would be born on their birthday. Nice.
Yuck, that’s awful, snikkimack! I also heard of someone just this week who said their parent wants the upcoming baby to be born on his birthday – three weeks after the due date!