4 Reasons I Take My Kids to Work

Well if you don’t already know, Take Your Child to Work Day is next week.  I had completely forgotten about this concept until I got married, and my husband’s daughters went with their mom to work.  Now that my oldest daughter is 8, she gets to participate as well.  Right now I’m working on a schedule for her day at home as well as a questionnaire that will help her get the most out of her day with me.

I’ve seen a lot of opinions for and against Take Your Child to Work Day.  If you’re against it, fine.  If you’re for it, great.  I’m not here to participate in the debate.  I personally participate in Take Your Child to Work Day for a couple of reasons:

1) It provides another opportunity for me to get involved in my child’s life as well as an opportunity for them to learn more about mine.  As busy as we are, I appreciate any opportunity I can get to spend time with my kids.

2) It provides an opportunity for my children to think about what they might want to be when they grow up, consider the gifts God gave them, and give them a hands on experience that will help them determine what they would and would not like to do as an occupation.  It’s no different than shadowing someone in high school or college–it just helps them narrow things down earlier.

3) As a blogger and stay-at-home mom, it gives my kids some insight as to what I do at home.  Since my kids attend public school, they don’t often see what I do during the day.  Sometimes it seems they think all I do is play on the computer all day.  Having them work beside me will show them that staying home with the kids isn’t laziness.

4) It helps them understand how what they learn at school is important in the real world.  When I was in school, I never understood why we needed to learn math or science if we didn’t plan on specializing in that field.  I want to show my kids how we do use math every day, how certain aspects of science help us understand why things work the way they do, and how reading and writing may be important in the field they choose.

Some people argue that the child could be using that day at school to learn something new.  That may be true, but if my daughter were out sick that day, she would still catch up, and exploring different careers also provides a unique opportunity for a different kind of education that she wouldn’t be able to find anywhere else.

Keep in mind, Take Your Child to Work Day is geared for ages 8-18.  I don’t think Princess Anna would benefit from this experience yet, because at 5 years old she (1) would have a hard time understanding why what we learn in school is important in the real world, (2) already follows me around the house wanting to do what I do, and (3) attends half-day kindergarten, so she already sees what I do for half of the day.

How about you?  Do you participate in Take Your Child to Work Day?

What are you working on this week?