Kid Talk at Work?

What is it that you are saying and to whom are you saying it? That makes a huge difference. ** I'm hoping you will update will details to give clarity on this.

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I work with 90% women and we all care about each other and each other's families, but to be honest, we rarely have time to chit chat about anything.
My boss brings things like that up at staff meetings so that it's said to everyone and doesn't single anyone out, and I know she said it once because one person in particular was doing more talking than working. However, she had given her notice that she was leaving. She did more visiting than working, but she had been a valued emloyee and it's not like they were going to fire her. But it was pretty distracting.
It likely doesn't have anything to do with the subject (kids)...chit chatting about personal stuff at work makes it hard to be productive if you have a demanding job.
At my office we all are supportive of each other, but work definitely comes first. It has to. It's CRAZY busy all day long.

I think people should talk about what's going on in their lives within reason.

Who told you to "cut the kid talk"? Was it a rude co-worker or supervisor? I'm pretty sure no on can tell you what can and can't talk about.

My opinion is that if someone has no interest in my subject matter, they can feel free to leave the conversation.

ETA - I used to be in a mom's group with one particular mom who ALWAYS talked about her kid... I mean, ALWAYS, and nothing else. Not only that, she would talk about & post pics of her kid every.single.day on FB & on our group's message board. It got really old really fast. I love my kid, but I have other things to talk about. Maybe you are doing something similar without actually knowing you are doing it?

I'm really curious as to what type of setting you work in, because my old workplace was very kid/family friendly. Pregnancies & babies were celebrated.

Depends on what you do. I drive a school bus, so not only do we talk about our kids, some of us bring them to work with us. If your trying to climb a corporate ladder, talking about your kids could hold you back, it shouldn't, but it could. It will place more emphasis on your family than your career, and management want people who concentrate on the job and only the job while at work.

if it is a friend you are comfortable with and know they are interested, why not? as long as it's not interfering with work, of course. i wouldn't go around sharing my son's latest pictures with everyone in the building. kinda rude that someone told you to "cut the kid talk". but everyone is different. maybe you WERE doing it too much, too loudly, or to the wrong people...we don't know.

I would talk about my kids all the time if i worked. Who doesnt mention often the most important thing about their life?

The women in my office talk about our kids to each other all the time. With the male co-workers, we only bring them up if they start a conversation about their own families. Otherwise, they just view you as a mom and not an equal. I have worked in a corporate environment for the past 8 yrs and it hasn't ever changed.

Yeah, at all my jobs we always talked about our kids and sometimes other things in our outside work life. Maybe someone felt y'all were wasting time or something, or they don't have a child? I don't know, I find it odd because that builds work cohesiveness and morale. If it is ALL you talk about I'm sure it can get old, but you said you only talk when asked about them so I don't see the problem with that in itself. A lot of times I got close friendships because we found out we had kids the same age and hung out after work at the park.

Where I work it's encouraged. it's one thing that many of us have in common.

Oh, that's terrible. I'm curious as well as to who told you this as it makes a huge difference in our ability to respond to your post. I would say if it was coworker the only time they would have the RIGHT to say that would be if you're disrupting their ability to focus on their work. If it's a boss telling you that mabye he is implying that you're not focusing on your work but engaging in unnecessary chit-chat? But I don't think anyone can tell you the topic of kids is off limits just that the timing for the discussion was off.

I'm like you I really don't talk about my kids a whole lot unless asked about them. I may mention a huge milestone....like my little on starting Kindergarten but I'll only mentioned it once. I just figured if they care they can ask and normally they will ask every so often. Then I just give them about 1-2 minutes of highlights. I kind of think they ask just to be nice anyway.

We all talk about our kids, and dogs, and cats, and plumbers. LOL

But, I know that there is a time and place while at work for personal chit chat...with my office it is usually early in the morning before the day officially starts and late in the day, right before quitting time. Since I am the new one, I try not to initiate personal chit chat conversations. :)

You can always tell us here on MP about your kiddies !!!!!

I would say if you were told to cut the kid talk, you should cut the kid talk. But it does soung like an unusual request. Was it a supervisor who told you this, or a colleague? Was there a specific context or was it a fly-by "you guys need to cut the kid talk" statement? Maybe there's a personal reason, like maybe the person who made the statement knows that another person in the office is struggling with having kids and worries that the "kid talk" will be hard on them. Or maybe you were talking too long about the kids, and the person was ready for you to get back to work. Don't know. If you're really concerned, ask for clarification

I don't know what you do. So it is hard to answer the question...

When I worked - we had a small office and we were always talking about our kids and families....

it all depends upon what you do.

I find that odd...we talk about & ask each other about our kids all the time. They're like part of the family.