Take a Kid to Work Day—A Welcome Birthday Present

Posted by: Anne Newman on April 23

O.K., so a seminar on derivatives systems isn’t exactly what my son had in mind for his 11th birthday today. But he was thrilled when he discovered his birthday would coincide with Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day —a perfect excuse to skip school on the day he turns 11.

For our son, “work” is probably the last thought that comes to mind when he commutes on the fourth Thursday of each April to the offices on the Hudson River of the European bank where my husband works. The journey, as much as the bank’s activities for the kids, holds its magic: seeing the Jersey City park with a view of the Statue of Liberty where, years earlier, my husband sat and filled out papers so our son, adopted from Eastern Europe, could become a U.S. citizen; their walks together along the Hudson, where one year high water from a storm broke in waves against the rocks and sprayed them; buying hot dogs and soda (an infrequent treat) from a street vendor and eating lunch in a little park nearby; standing—much more fun than sitting—on crowded subways.

Like workplaces across the country, the bank has a day of carefully planned activities designed, it seems, to briefly expose kids to what in the world it is their parents do while also trying to hold their attention. This can be a challenge. Just how will my Lego-obsessed son manage the “Accounting Control and Reporting Management” presentation scheduled in mid-morning? (My husband reports that one year a department employee played “bouncy folks songs” he had composed about the job—but he doesn’t think the singing accountant works there anymore.) And will my boy think a chief information officer is someone who gets to play, like he does, on the computer looking up information on Google Earth or designing cool places on Google SketchUp? And as for the 20-minute presentations each by Derivatives Systems and Accounts Payable, well… maybe the kids could come up with ways to qualify for TARP bailout funds.

Somehow, each year since my son was 8, the bank has managed to make what it does interesting enough that he looks forward to the next year. Expectations about the afternoon science show get him through the morning. The vending machine is always a big treat. And practicing a proper greeting and handshake with my husband’s colleagues, a virtual U.N. of workers, has become a tradition, too. And of course, there’s the “loot”—water bottles, a mouse pad, a cap.

So is my son really gaining an appreciation for work each year? We think so—he loves to commute with his dad. As for any immediate benefits? Well, just maybe that derivatives presentation will help him with his math test this Friday on median, mean, and mode.

Reader, what do your kids get out of Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day?

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