Workplace: Taking the Kids to Work

Here’s the scenario: Your babysitter canceled on you at the last minute, and there’s nobody to watch your child at home. Is it acceptable to bring him to work with you?

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?

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.

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 mom or dad doing their thing — and invaluable experience and lesson.