Child Labor

Last week my company participated in the Annual Take your Daughters and Sons to Work Day and Kaitlin came to the office with me. This is the first year she semi qualifies (the kids should be 12+ yrs old).

When I mentioned to her the possibility of going, I did not expect her to want to do it because she normally does not like to miss school. She surprised me by saying yes and actually getting really excited about it.

As the day approached, I found myself getting nervous at having her come with me. You see, I am not the most sociable person at work. I greet people in the halls and am generally friendly when somebody approaches me, but for the most part, I keep to myself inside my little cubicle. Having a cute little girl tagging along with you all day is a sure people magnet and I was already getting anxious about the all the extra small talk I was going to have to make. This is a leftover effect of leaving in a communist country were you were forced to compartmentalize your life, but that is a whole other post.


In the end, it was fun having Kaitlin at the office. She asked my help choosing her clothes that morning and even decided to take a laptop so she could do some “real” work. As always, she was a big help. I had huge stacks of paper on my desk that were waiting for me to have some “free” time to organize into binders, and she dutifully sat for over an hour, punching holes and putting the papers into the binders. She even helped me format some Excel Spreadsheets.



Besides participating in a couple of activities our building had organized, she also got in a little bit of computer game playing (without sound, of course).




The day just flew by and I have to admit I got a lot done. Afraid of instilling in her bad work ethics, I did not once check Facebook or read any blogs. Well, except for the times she was participating in the activities, but she does not need to know about that.


One unexpected side effect of having her experiencing what my day looks like is that she has been much more understanding when I show up late to pick them up from school or make last minute changes in our plans. In the past she always greeted me upset or with an accusatory tone. As a parent, you do not expect your children to recognize all the sacrifices that go into raising them and balancing all the aspects of life, but it is nice from time to time to receive some appreciation.