Is Workplace Parenting The Wave Of The Future?

re: Is Workplace Parenting The Wave Of The Future?

Joce — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:48:05 GMT

I take my 3 month old into the office with me, and it usually works quite well. That being said, I only need to be in the office about 2 hours a day, I go during his morning nap, my husband works there as well (so he can help when the boy wakes up), and there is a grand total of 5 employees. Also several empty offices where I can nurse, store our pack and play, etc. I would get absolutely nothing done without all of those lovely elements coming together. Oh, and we live across the street, so I walk home if there is an issue.

re: Is Workplace Parenting The Wave Of The Future?

rrr — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:39:11 GMT

My coworker brought her baby to work about 20 hours a week when the kid was 3 to 6 months old and we all loved having the baby in the office. She was on a waiting list for a daycare, and we were all disappointed when she got in earlier than expected!

re: Is Workplace Parenting The Wave Of The Future?

Amy Kuras — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 15:24:41 GMT

I am against kids at work in all but emergency situations. I just remember sitting my office trying to work while my coworker's baby (we shared a wall--both our doors were closed, even) wailed for HOURS. His childcare plan was for his wife to work nights and he would have the baby at the office during the couple hours of overlap--sounds good, but it wasn't. I got nothing done, and I can't image he did either.

It's happened other places I have worked and some parents are great about it, keeping their kids busy and warning them to stay in their parent's offices. Those kids tend to be well-behaved and a pleasure to have there. Other parents let their little maniacs run up and down the aisles yelling, barge into people's offices, take over the conference room, blare cartoons, etc. I pay for daycare and sitters so I can concentrate when I am working and so can everyone else, so I find it really irritating when people can't do the same. Again, emergency situations (sick sitter, snow day) are one thing, but all the time is another. I work from home now and it's so damn distracting, but at least I am the only one impacted when she's antsy and running around or when I need to stop what I am doing to go color with her or whatever.

re: Is Workplace Parenting The Wave Of The Future?

aaustin — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:48:04 GMT

My husband and I own our own business - I do the bookkeeping - so it was natural for us to take both of our daughters to work for a while. It works really well when they're little and they sleep a lot. It works slightly less well between the time when they sort of wake up and the time when they get mobile. Once they start to crawl, it doesn't work at all. We started having a sitter come when my older daughter was 1, and now that my younger daughter is 10 months, she's going to start staying home during the day, too. Fortunately I live within a few miles of our office, so I can come home to nurse her.

I only work part time, though. It would be cruel to expect a baby to be at work (and largely ignored) for 40+ hours a week.

If you're nursing, it's better if you have your own office (away from clients, especially) where you can have some privacy... Especially in those fumbly no-head-control early days. We have a lot of young male college students who work for us, and they were always very cool and respectful about the breastfeeding, but more than one of them got flashed, and it was sort of awkward for everyone. I'm all for nursing in public, but it's somehow a little different when it's your boss.

The study that it had no effect on productivity, though, is bullshit. It takes me 10 times longer to get anything done with the kids there than when they're not. I still take them in occasionally when the sitter is on school break, and it's miserable. We're always very glad to see Allison again.

I have no idea what I'm going to do this summer. Hopefully we'll be able to find someone who is taking summer school. Last summer was really hard.

The real hardship, though, for the parent is that you never get a break. When working moms go to work, they get to be grown ups and not worry about sippy cups and dirty diapers for a while. When stay at home moms get a sitter, they get to do something fun and have a break. I use all my "sitter time" to go to work, which isn't a break at all, and while I'm there I'm still Mom. It's double duty, and it sucks sometimes. Fortunately my husband is there, too, so he can take them (without attitude, after all, they're his kids!) when I'm on the phone and stuff. An assistant, or a co-worker, might get crappy about that.

I could go on and on...