Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day

[Terri_A]

So, my daughter has been dying to go to work with me. Since I work in a nontraditional work environment, I've been hesitant. BUT, I just found out that Thursday, April 27th is the official Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day. So, I think I'm going to at least let her come with me for half of a day.

Anyone else planning on taking their child to work?

[greysangel]

Thanks for reminding me to take that day off :D

I am in a traditional work environment and it is one of my least favorite days. Unless the company is sponsoring events for the kids (my old co. did and it was GREAT for the kids!), they tend to be bored after the excitement of going to work with the parents wears off. I left early last year as my old cubicle neighbor brought in her son and he spent the first hour asking her ten million questions and then the next two hours "visiting" me.

Signed, JeAnne the grinch :)

[Terri_A]

hehehehe....I don't think you're a grinch at all!!! I am a rep for a pharmaceutical company and I have certain offices that want to meet my daughter and since I'm only in the office for an average of 15 minutes - it's not like I'm ruining their day! But, your comments do make me think I will clear it with each office I will be at, just so no one is upset about it.

I think in an office setting - kids would be horribly bored without a program set in place!!!

So, JeAnne, take the day off, and enjoy yourself!

[Meganator]

As a business owner, if an employee brought their kid to work, I would consider that giving them an extra holiday that everyone else wasn't eligible for. :rolleyes: Not to mention the lowered productivity of everyone else in the vicinty. Fortunately, it isn't really an issue here.

[SheRa]

i used to LOVE going to work with my mom, and i really enjoy meeting my coworkers' kids now that i'm an adult BUT we have one person in particular in my office who brings his daughter in (not ONLY on that day, mind you) and he TELLS her to play in other people's work areas. he doesn't watch her for 5 minutes! i really like kids, but not when i have a lot of work to do! and i'm not getting paid to babysit, ya know? oh, and btw, his daughter is openly refered to by my coworkers as "satan" - and he knows this and just laughs. she doesn't even live with him, so you'd think he'd like the opportunity to spend some time with her, but he can't handle the responsibility and it drives everyone else nuts. :rolleyes:

/tangent

[KimE]

My DD's are way to old to bring to work anymore but I use to. A lot of us did, but we sould bring them in for 1/2 the day and take them home/daycare/babysitter at lunch. It worked out great, I have been at the same job for 16 years so they grew up here and worked during breaks when they were in High School. If they had not come in and met everyone they might not have had that opportunity, I know not everyone has that opportunity at work also. I have seen company's that it has been horrible at and caused bad feelings. I guess I would just play it by ear.

Kim

[mbrogier]

I hated "take your daughter to work day". That meant that dad got free child labor. :D I did learn how to clear land for a development, negotiate contracts, take water samples, walk land that was up for sale, survey...

[engineer]

I pre-date 'take your child to work day'. But when DM had to go in on a weekend, I was schelped along. My job was to coat the old polaroids with that gooey stuff and make sure they were dry. And then I'd sit and try to match the photos she took with the photos in Vol. 7 of the 8th edition of the metals handbook (Atlas of Microstructures). And guess what I do now - yup, coat polaroids (going digital some day :rolleyes: ) and try and match up the photos in that very same book. When she retired she passed it along to me. :p

Like mother like daughter :eek:

Oh and my only children are furry and have 4 feet - I don't think they'd be too happy here if I showed up with either cat, dog or draft horse ;)

[rosie_one]

Hehe, you guys are grinchy.

My DD is 8 this year and is very excited that she is finally old enough to go. We have decided that she will spend the morning with me (my office is reasonably fun), then we will meet DH for lunch and she will spend the afternoon with him. He's planning to work a shorter day than usual since his day is a little less kid friendly and flexible than mine. In future years when DS is old enough we figure we'll swap kids at lunchtime so that we never have both at one time. They get squirrely when they are together sometimes.

Hopefully, it will be fun. :)

[MiMo]

Thanks for reminding me to take that day off :D

LOL. Too funny, JeAnne the Grinch. Save the day off and call in sick. Sick of the thought of kids in the office for an entire day. :D

All I can say is, "Thank God I work at home!!!"

[schuh]

Count me among the grinches.

The day is that it's right in the middle of the school year. Every year our school sends home a note that the day is an unexcused absence, and not something they encourage. If you're going to take your kids to work, do it in the summer, when kids aren't in school.

Most of those days I've witnessed involve the kid sitting around and playing games on mommy or daddy's work computer. The kids aren't learning anything from it. And the kids often get bored and disruptive, resulting in lost productivity in the office.

[clairea]

I'm generally with the grinches on this one Since I teach at a preschool, we all routinely bring our kids to work whenever they are out of school and we aren't. I can't imagine, though, that DH (a lawyer with a large firm) could take them to work with him without it resulting in them being completely bored, him not getting much done, or his assistant having to entertain them all day. DH once worked for a firm that did plan activities for kids on this day, but I am not sure how that worked or whether that was really even the best use of resources. Finally, it is a school day,and IMO school is where they belong. I don't take my kids out of school other than for exceptional reasons.

I think if you work in a small office where having your kids there isn't disruptive (like some of you do), and they are the kind of kids who will actually benefit from the experience, then there isn't anything wrong with it. I think the *idea* behind this day is a good one, I'm just not sure that it is actually working well in practice in a lot of places.

[barbara-cook]

Are they still doing this? Hard to believe. In my previous job, the owner of the company often had his kids in (not just this day, but others as well and often on weekends if he was there working). They would stand around and talk to certain people while the rest of us tried to work. Or we would have to find things for them to do. His son once (5 at the time) swatted me on the butt and then ran off laughing. If it wasn't the bosses kid, I would've swatted him back! Anyway, when they were there on the weekends, they would play at our desks, mess up our cubes, leave strange notes, decorate our cubes with silly messages, and things were always in places they didn't belong and it drove me nuts. I went to get a tea bag from my desk drawer once and couldn't find the zip lock bag I kept them in. A week later I found the bag of tea bags stuffed into the phone table of the conference room! I wonder what else (of others) was lost or "misplaced" by the little darlings!

I think if you're in a field that the kid might find interesting, fine. If not, a lot of office jobs are just too vague for the kid to learn anything. My son was at my office once or twice for a short period of time, and couldn't figure out what I did. I was customer service/inside sales. He thought I just talked on the phone all the time!

Good luck to all who have to endure it!

[Jazzmatazz49]

Since I have a gyno appt. tomorrow, I hope he's not planning on bringing his kids to work.

[Robyn1007]

Since I have a gyno appt. tomorrow, I hope he's not planning on bringing his kids to work.

*Snort* (Good thing the day is 2 weeks from tomorrow and not actually tomorrow)

[Jazzmatazz49]

Yeah, I'm relieved to hear that. :D

I'm a teacher, and we don't even bring our own kids to work. I guess it would be too much of a good thing, and they might as well be in their own school. I can see why it would be fun for some jobs, but most jobs would not be that interesting to kids. I say give them a job, preferably manual labor outdoors, and they can learn about the work ethic that way.

[LakeMartinGal]

By the time they started this idea, my girls were old enough to go with me and actually be some help! I was a merchandiser for various companies, my schedule was my own. The girls would go with me into the stores, and I would set them various tasks to do, like pricing items with my price gun (this was before shelf-edge pricing... I am WAY old! :p ) Some of the stores, where I had a really good relationship, actually let me take them in the back room, as long as I was with them. :)

We had a good time, and went out to lunch as part of the day. Fortunately, I was able to make it a short day... they did get bored, but it was fun for them to see what Mom did all day... Unfortunately, Dad travelled, so it was out of the question for them to go with him.

Now, of course, this is mostly handled by brokers, and it would be too difficult to take them... but they're in their 30's and have their own jobs! :p ;) :D

[bobmark226]

So...daughters or wee kitty-cats in the workplace...which is worse? (At least they're not illegal aliens, right?)

A few weeks ago "The Office" did its take on this day and I have to admit that I've experienced every single emotion shown.

I think you should all take them to an American Girl shop instead. I'm sure they'd all be happier and so would your co-workers.

Bob, yet another grinch

[Gracie]

DD is too old now but she had fun at my then-job which had lots of planned/supervised activities for the kids. It was a large health-care company so maybe that's why they were able to put the resources in.

DD got her own badge with her photo (didn't unlock any doors tho!!) and had ice cream, listened to the CEO speak and learned a bit about paying claims!

I am surprised that the day is during school for so many of you. We always have the week off as their spring break. I thought that's why they scheduled it the way they did.

Loren

[GingerPow]

Since I have a gyno appt. tomorrow, I hope he's not planning on bringing his kids to work.

I used to go to a gyno who brought her little poodle to work everyday. It would sit in the corner of the room as she did the pelvic exam.

I will enjoy subsequent postings in response to this. You now have the floor...

[mobear]

These events postdated me as a child. But my husband and I remember going to our parents work, and being put to work! With my mom a nurse in private practices, and his dad had his own business. Filing, supplies, etc! I was also a candystriper for 6 years, so I got to see careers all over the hospital next to where my mom worked. Maybe our parents were just bigger disciplinarians!

I think that taking your child to work would be more productive if the kids were older, and could help out and generally better understand what it is that their parents do. Especially to see different career options and understand how important doing well in school is to have a good career. Maybe even if they had specific homework related to what they learned from their parents that day.

I do sympathize with the grinches. When parents bring their kids to work and pass them off onto their coworkers. As I have had this happen to me many times as well. I don't mind kids at all, as long as they are behaved and don't disrupt. Heck, I could even put them to work! :)

[greysangel]

I used to go to a gyno who brought her little poodle to work everyday. It would sit in the corner of the room as she did the pelvic exam.

I will enjoy subsequent postings in response to this. You now have the floor...

boy if that poodle could talk!! ;)

[beacooker]

I sympathize with the grinches, too, because obviously many parents are real dolts about the whole thing. But overall, I do think it is a good thing, and I think I will bring my 4 year old to work with me that day, if only for a little while. Even though he is way too young to help out or even get an idea of what I do from being at work with me, I just think its nice for him to get a sense of where I go all day every day, so it doesn't seem so mysterious. Also, I think it is nice for co-workers to know each other's children at least a little. Of course, that is assuming that the parents aren't idiots who let their kids run wild and ruin everyone else's day. :)

[Terri_A]

I sympathize with the grinches, too, because obviously many parents are real dolts about the whole thing. But overall, I do think it is a good thing, and I think I will bring my 4 year old to work with me that day, if only for a little while. Even though he is way too young to help out or even get an idea of what I do from being at work with me, I just think its nice for him to get a sense of where I go all day every day, so it doesn't seem so mysterious. Also, I think it is nice for co-workers to know each other's children at least a little. Of course, that is assuming that the parents aren't idiots who let their kids run wild and ruin everyone else's day. :)


This is the exact sentiment behind me taking my 4yo DD with me this year. Most of the Physicians that I work with want to meet her, she's dying to see what this "mommy teaches doctors" thing really means and I'm planning a nice 1/2 day with a fun lunch at the end and since I make my own schedule we can edit it as needed. I think she'll enjoy just seeing where I go all day while she's at Preschool!!!

[Wendy w]

We don't actually practice this where I work, but we love seeing people's new babies, and kids, but this doesn't happen often enough to be disruptive to our workplace. Our Dean encourages trick or treating on Halloween and we even keep a polaroid camera to take pics of our faculty and staff to put up on our "baby board". I can see the take your children to work as a mixed bag.

[SDMomChef]

I must go with the dissenters on this one....

Unless the company has a program, or you travel or are otherwise able to keep the kids occupied, I think it is a distraction to you and your co-workers.

I liked the initial concept of Bring Your Daughter to Work Day (and I have two sons), bu I don't think it works unless the Company has a program....My 2 cents...