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How can I tactfully tell my colleague I'd like to talk about something other than her kids?

• I've worked with someone for over a year now who has two young children. We work in close proximity to each other so people in my team tend to chat to whomever they are near. This colleague is totally obsessed with her children. They are literally all she talks about. I have chosen not to have kids as I just am not a maternal person. I have friends who have kids and can appreciate how important they are to their parents. I am happy to take an interest, and in the beginning, I had no trouble looking at photos and discussing the kids. Over time though, it's become the one and only topic this person will ever speak about. If I try to change the topic to something I'm interested in, like movies, art or somewhere I went on the weekend, my colleague laughs at me and says things like"I don't have time to waste it doing things like that - I have more important things to do", being her kids of course. Or, if I'm tired in the morning and make the mistake of mentioning it when she asks how I am, I get comments like "ha! what do you know about being tired!! I've got two kids" etc etc. I have no problem acknowledging that parenting is challenging, frustrating and tiring. I know enough parents and have enough nieces and nephews to have some idea of that. I am happy to talk about kids, even though they don't really interest me all that much. I feel quite offended though when this colleague belittles my lifestyle and tells me to my face that my life has no meaning because I'm not a parent, and then have to sit though hours of her telling me what a great mother she is compared to everyone else. She is always going on about how hard she has it (married with two kids) but how she manages to battle through. Some of my friends are single parents with more kids than her, and still manage to study or hold down full time jobs, and they don't go on and on about it. I'm just really tired of it and because she's a colleague, I can't get away from her. How do I tactfully let her know she's getting on my nerves? I'm about ready to tell her to put a sock in it.

• Answer:

  there is NOTHING more boring than someone who talks about their children all the time and i have 3 of my own! to belittle your lifestyle borders on being rude no, scratch that it IS rude to be frank i would just ignore her you dont sound anti-children in any way shape of form let her get on with her "battle of a life" and you get on with yours parents have a different life than those without children but neither are harder or better than the other just, different