Career Advice - Children In The Workplace

Babysitter Blues Hit The Office

By
Relationship Advice Expert April Masini

I am looking for a new babysitter for my son. The last sitter was always late, not professional, and we didn't really hit it off. But while I'm reading babysitter resumes and I am still in the process of finding someone, there is nobody to watch my child! Can I bring him to work with me or is that totally out of line? I don't want to annoy my co-workers but what else can I do?

Sincerely,

Babysitter-less

Dear Babysitter-less,

Let's be serious. They hired you to be a human being. You have a human child who gets sick occasionally. Your spouse works. You're a single parent. Or your babysitter's got the flu. What are you supposed to do — send the kid to Doggie Daycare with Fido?

If your employer doesn't have a daycare facility on site, what do you do?

When employers catch up with the rest of the world and realize that families exist and that they're still imperfect, they'll all have daycare facilities on site. But until that time, it's really important that employees be allowed a margin of grace to bring their child to the office for one or two days — after which time they should be expected to find a babysitter or relative who can care for their child -- if the child is still in need of care.

If family doesn't come first, how good an employee can you be?

In addition, this is a great message to send to children — that family comes first, and employers recognize this. The other message sent to children is that not everything goes according to plan and when there's a mix up with driving, illness or something else, sometimes you have to go to work with your parent. The importance of the parent's livelihood and responsibility to their job is also reinforced to the child, and the child gets to see what an office is like!

April Masini -- nicknamed "the new millennium's Dear Abby" by the media, is author of the best-selling books Date Out Of Your League and Think & Date Like A Man, the two (just released) step-by-step dating and relationship manuals, Ideas for a Fun Date and Romantic Date Ideas, and the critically acclaimed dating and relationship online magazine www.AskApril.com.

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