I just can’t stand that question- “So, what have you been up to?”
My answer- “Nothing” “Not much” “Oh, nothing new”, or sometimes, just to be wild, I answer with “Busy, Busy, Busy!”.
Even if there is something new going on in my life, “So, what have you been up to?” is such a generic question that I just don’t know how to answer. Do people even really want to know what’s new? Do they have time to hear about all the exciting (ahem) events that make up the life of Sarah? I doubt it.
It’s along the same lines of “How are you?”.
The stock answer is “Fine”- even if you’re not- because people are just asking to be polite, not because they really want to know.
Why all these deep thoughts on such a passing question? It’s back-to-school week, which means that I (as a teacher) have been bombarded with “So, what have you been up to?” all week long. And I’ve realized that no one really wants to know what I’ve been up to- they don’t care that The Boy was up at 4am and I’m exhausted, or that he learned to say “Quack” and “Duck” on the same day, or that he has been sitting on top of another little boy at daycare in an attempt to show his dominance. Nope- they just want to hear a nice, quick answer.
I kind of wonder why people bother at all- if you’re not interested in what’s new in my life, then why ask? Yet, they do, and I’m stumped at how to answer…
So, UrbanMom-ers, what have you been up to? (and how do you answer this question??)
Gee, my son took a cr@p in his diaper at the breakfast table this morning, while I was trying to eat my breakfast. He was red and grunting, and it was a stinker too. And what have you been up to???
And have you other SAHM’s noticed that nothing kills conversation faster at a dinner party than answering the question “And what do you do?” with “I stay home with my kids”. It’s funny/maddening/depressing how quickly they find someone else to talk to…
I hate small talk!
Someone: Hey, Shawn, what have you been up to?
Shawn: [breaks down, starts to cry, curls up fetal]
That usually gets me left alone and requires no social interaction on my part.
I always get the ‘how are you’ and I say ‘delightful’ – and they say ‘really’ and I say ‘dunno, what do you think’….
argh….the small talk…
i howled at your ‘dominating’ kid though – too funny – will did that to another kid in the tub last night – it was odd!
What have I been up to?
My answer – growing a baby and trying to find out as much about how to take care of an infant so that once it gets here ( two weeks!) I will at least know something about taking care of a newborn 🙂
What was I up to? Hmmm.
Trying not to rip the hair out of my scalp while listening to my 7.5 year old cry at the clouds for the month of August 🙂
Everybody: “Did you have a good summer?”
Me: “No it sucked.”
That’s been going on for a week now