Is Taking Your Kid to Work Always a Great Idea?

This week, I had the pleasure of participating in Take Your Child to Work Day (TYCTWD) by taking my granddaughter, Cloee, to school with me.

TYCTWD started back in 1993 by Gloria Steinem and the Ms. Foundation for Women as Take Your Daughter to Work. The intent was to educate girls and encourage them to enter the workforce.  The hope was a girl would see what her parent did at work and decide what she might want to become.

Cloee is ten and has lived with me for the past four years. She has begged me every year to take her to work with me, but I wouldn’t do it. I never did it with my children, always making a joke by saying that the reason I went to work was to get away from them. Also, I really didn’t see the need in taking them or Cloee with me. After all, I’m a teacher and they see what a teacher does every day in their own classrooms. Cloee had been to school with me many times before – when she was sick and I had to take her to school with me to wait for the substitute, when she had an appointment we had to attend, etc.

I put her off every year by telling her that I would take her on my last TYCTWD which occurred this week. I couldn’t back out of my promise.

I had a couple of problems with taking my 10-year-old granddaughter to school with me. First, my school is huge compared to what she’s used to, with over 2,000 teenagers milling around. Also, my students are all about to graduate and consider themselves adults already. Many of them have a less-than-stellar commitment to education right now. I didn’t want them modeling any bad behavior, so we had a long talk the day before Cloee’s visit, discussing topics like inappropriate behavior or language.

A couple of years ago, a teacher at my school brought his pre-teen daughter to class with him and one of his male students made a very suggestive comment about his daughter. I have seen some mad people before, but this man went off on this kid like I had never seen a teacher do. I don’t think the teacher was worried one bit about his job on that day. I can’t say that I blame him, either. My memory of that event is the reason I wanted to prepare my students.

For the most part, my students were pretty good after a quick reminder that we had an impressionable visitor in the classroom. I will probably have to take them some candy as a reward. They may pretend to be adults, but they can still be bribed with candy.

When we got home, I asked Cloee what she learned during her visit. She said she noticed that I said the same thing over and over to the classes which is because I have the same subject during several periods. She also said she understood now what I meant by the term Spawns of Satan.

I don't know what Cloee wants to be when she grows up. She has mentioned teacher but also veterinarian, nurse, etc. I'm sure she will figure it out and make a great whatever she becomes. I don't know if her going to work with me will make a difference in her decision but now she knows, at least. And I enjoyed TYCTWD, probably most because it was my last one!

  

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Cloee learned that teachers often have to eat lunch at their desks because they have to tend to grading papers, preparing lessons or taking attendance.

Cloee got a chance to check out the new yearbook which looks fantastic!
Kudos to the staff and praise the Lord, I wasn't the yearbook sponsor this year.