Bring Your Child To Work Day

As a child, I remember being so excited on the rare occasion when my dad had to swing by his office after picking me up from school. He taught me how to answer the phone and I'd sit at his desk while he worked, and field phone calls from important customers like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Between my positive memories and my passion for educating the next generation of engineers and scientists, you'd think that Bring Your Child to Work Day would be my jam. But, as an adult, bring your child to work day is officially my least favorite day of the year. 

My abhorrence for this holiday began a few years ago, when my engineering firm decided to start inviting children to work. One of the secretaries tried to plan a loose schedule, which involved having kids "observe engineers at work". And since we were still expected to meet deadlines and produce works, this basically means that the children (ages 2-17) were expected to sit in somebody's cube and watch us think, and type, and draw, discuss complex technical problems, and do math- which is basically torture for a kid. As a result, the cube halls were filled with children who were just aimlessly running and screaming. 

It was complete anarchy, with no adults even trying to take direct responsibility. What was most shocking to me is that the majority of parents somehow took zero responsibility for their children the moment they dropped them off at the secretary's desk. I remember one particularly vocal five year old running past his dad's cube with a bouncy ball multiple times before he face planted into a metal filing cabinet (luckily he wasn't injured), and his father just kept working without even acknowledging his child was there. At that point, I escorted the kid back to the secretary and explained to both of them that running recklessly about was not something we do in an office. I never thought of my parents as particularly strict, but I cannot imagine running wild like that for more than five seconds before I was disciplined... especially in public.

My natural instinct was to want to bring order to the chaos, to kick in and pull out one of my classes or something to entertain them. But in a building filled with people avoiding responsibility, I didn't want to enforce stereotypes by being the woman who was taking care of children while the men worked. Thus, a day with so much potential became a day where the only people more miserable than the employees were the children. This version of bring your child to work day became the bane of my existence, and I come to find myself hoping that my new company doesn't have one so I don't have to relive that nightmare.

So here are times you should NOT bring your child to work:

1. If you work in an industrial setting where your child may not leave in the same condition in which he or she arrived. 

2. If you would want to stab your eyes out with a pencil if you were forced to watch you work for a day without doing anything- and your company doesn't have activities planned. (This is most engineering jobs, let's be honest)

3. If you are unwilling to recognize that your child exists in public.

4. If you have a big project coming due, and can't afford to be distracted at work. 

That said, I am still a proponent of companies trying to participate in organized educational events... I just don't think a chaotic day of nonsense counts as an educational event.

Does your company pull off a more successful bring your child to work day? What type of activities do they do?

Cheers, 

Vanessa