Children are the key to any conversation

Man, people love their kids.  There must be something about creating another human life, I don't have kids so I still don't fully understand, but MAN!  People love their kids.

I'm actually really excited about finally realizing this.  I first read about this in Carnigie's book "How to Make Friends and Influence People."  I forget the details, which I will have to look up later, but the idea was that people love their children more than anything and are always eager to talk about them.

I had 2 conversations yesterday that exemplified this greatly.  One was with a guy I met at the gym, another with a co-worker in the office, but both conversations began on the topic of working out.  I then brought up how I love going to the gym in the morning, and asked them how they first adjusted to the new routine of waking up early.  They both explained that this was a direct result of having kids.  Newborns are constantly waking up throughout the night, toddlers don't sleep much and are ever curious when they are left alone, teenagers must be prepped for school... Having kids = waking up early.  It's just more convenient.

Each of them explained this rather unexciting change in lifestyle with ginormous smiles on their faces.  I don't know about you, but I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of getting less sleep, but these 2 individuals were ecstatic.  The difference?  They have children and I do not.  There is an understanding of this unconditional love that is unknown to the childless.  The act of creating another living human creates a bond that cannot be replicated in any other way.  It's like the children are an extension of the parents; and since we know everyone loves nothing more than to talk about themselves, they also love to talk about their children.

These two conversations were almost exactly the same, starting out as a normal everyday conversation about the gym, but evolving into an intensely deep discussion about children and the affect they can have on your life.

So what's the big take away here?

Make the other persons children the topic of conversation, and you will most assuredly never run out of things to talk about.