We all have personal lives outside of work. I recently wrote a post on my parenting blog called "The Pressure of Parenting as a Working Mom". This post talked about how difficult it can be when the unspoken expectation is to work like you don't have kids and raise kids like you don't have to work. This got me thinking a lot about involving my kids in my work in the future.
Now don't get it twisted here, I don't often bring my 18 month old son to work with me as I would consider that a hindrance to getting my work done and also unprofessional. When I do bring him, it is completely out of necessity, so more or less once or twice a year. However, the millennial generation now makes up 90% of the people having babies, and I feel like a shift in attitudes might be coming.
When schools are closed, but the university is open there are times that I will see one of my co-worker's kids in the hallway. They are much older than my VERY ACTIVE 18 month old, so they cause little disturbance and I often don't even know that they are there except if they are on their way to and from the bathroom. Yet, I admire these people for bringing their kids to work because, while it may be out of necessity, I think there is a value to showing your family what you do on a regular basis.
I know that when I've brought my husband to work functions in the past I have a sense of pride to show him all that I'm doing at work. Thus, when certain off-site conferences come up, he often tags along. Sometimes we make a vacation out of a work trip by extending our stay a few days.
I anticipate that in the future as my kids get older, there will be times that I will bring them into my office for the day (so long as they can behave of course). I feel that melding the worlds together can allow me to show them that work is important, sometimes hard, but ultimately rewarding. There is so much to teach them about the world and what better place than to model the work ethic that you want them to develop on their own.
Family is important to everyone, and wouldn't you want to seize any opportunity to involve your family in your profession if you could? After all, our mood upon coming home is sometimes a result of what our day has been like at work, which can be good or bad depending on your day.
The event profession is one that allows flexibility to involve my family at times, so I feel like I should take advantage of that. How about you? What are your attitudes about involving your family in your work?