Take your kid to work

My grandmother was the secretary for the local machinist union when I was growing up. She worked part time at the union hall, collecting dues, mailing out information, doing other clerical and bookkeeping tasks. It was a real treat as a child to go with her to work for the day. While we were there we stuffed envelopes, used the adding machine, and got free bottles of Coke from the vending machine. The union hall was in the county seat, the big town of Valparaiso, Indiana, and we would walk around the block a few times--but didn't cross the street. For lunch we would go to the lunch counter at Woolworth's and have grilled cheese sandwiches.

I don't think I ever went to my father's office. I do remember a few times being shown a place where he worked, and maybe once or twice going to pick him up or take him a dinner when he worked overtime at his "moonlighting" job. What he did and where he did was a great mystery to me.

My boys have come to my office since they were infants. Doug spent many baby hours in my office, Evan somewhat fewer, but he was there, too. As they became toddlers they would come for a few hours now and then. I still have in my office the wooden train set that I kept there for their entertainment. When they got to be school age they would sometimes come to a class. They might bring a book or a Gameboy, but my younger son loved to "help." He would hand out papers, collect assignments and advance my PowerPoint slides He would even answer questions and make comments. He loved being seen as the "smart kid." Of course, that attitude faded with age and it is no longer "cool" to come to my classes.

I think it is good for kids to see where their parents work, and for the people at work to see that you have kids. I am a strong advocate for breaking down the artificial barriers of work and home. I think both places need to acknowledge the importance of the other. And one way to advance that respect is to let each be aware of the other. Being a mother is part of who I am, and being a professor is part of who I am. I don't want to pretend in either arena that the other does not exist.