Taking kids on business trips
I travel for business occasionally, and, have given passing thought to bringing the kids with me when a trip falls on a school holiday or a weekend, but, the logistics of doing it are usually too complicated.
However, there are people who regularly take their kids on business trips as a way to spend extra time with them.
What do you do with the kids while you’re working if you have them there by yourself? I know there are drop-in child care centers, but,I really couldn’t imagine sending a child to one in another city. How would you find a center, anyway?
What about older kids? Do you leave them in the hotel room? Do you take them to your meeting?
I think the right trip would be a good opportunity to spend more time with your children, but, I don’t quite understand how you’d do it.
Tags: business-trips, Career and KidsRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Traveling for work
6 opinions for Taking kids on business trips
JayMonster
Apr 4, 2007 at 10:05 am
I’m with you on this. I couldn’t imagine opening the Yellow Pages in an area that I am not familiar with and just randomly trying to find such a place to entrust with my child.
Leaving a child (or teen even) alone in a hotel? In a strange city? Ummm… I don’t think so.
The logistics just would leave me feeling uncomfortable.
Valerie
Apr 4, 2007 at 1:26 pm
It’s perhaps not so possible for folks traveling in the corporate world, but one of the on-going issues in recent years at academic conventions is whether or not childcare services will be provided, and if so, under what circumstances.
While there are sometimes shades of “strange sitters, strange city,” the participants are going to be me more-or-less the same each year.
Recognizing the need to do something about childcare is part of how universities and academic societies are acknowledging the importance of work-life balance and of making academic careers more feasible for women.
Selfmademom
Apr 4, 2007 at 5:17 pm
I guess if I was going to a conference or something in a cool relaxing location (unlikely) and my hubby could take a few days off (equally unlikely) we’d take our son. I’ve been invited to join him for work in various cities, but I don’t have the time to take off… Otherwise, I don’t think it would work for me. What would he do in a hotel in New Jersey all day?
lcreekmo
Apr 4, 2007 at 7:52 pm
I once took my then-5-month-old daughter on a work trip. I was still nursing her and unwilling to be halfway across the country from her for three days, no matter how great the conference.
To make it work, I conned my sister into taking 3 days off [she had a fairly flexible job], and I paid for her plane ticket to San Francisco. [Really, who would turn down a free trip to San Francisco??] She kept my daughter during the day, visiting the park near our hotel and walking around Chinatown with her.
My coworkers on the trip had met my sister before and really, it all worked out well. The hardest part? Racing through DFW with a baby and all my stuff when we changed planes. As I recall, my coworkers helped out.
I planned to undertake a similar arrangement last year for a work trip, with my son and my mother, but the timing didn’t work out for other reasons and I ended up not going.
Would I take my now-7-year-old daughter? Only if I could take a relative, like I did before. I can’t imagine she’d really enjoy any of the trips I go on. However, when she’s a bit older, I think such a trip could work out well.
Karen is Thrifty
Apr 5, 2007 at 8:09 pm
My husband and I sometimes have to go away together. We’ve never taken the kids with us, but they’re 3 and 1. Right now we have to get my parents come and stay at our house. It’s pretty inconvenient since my parents don’t live here, but it’s working for now.
dani
Apr 6, 2007 at 9:48 am
I pay for my mom to come along and watch my daughter. We’re going to Chicago in June to speak at a conference, so we’re going to try and go an extra few days and have some fun there too.
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