Help Your Children Begin to Understand the Important Roles of Work in Your Family’s Life

What a delight to work with the NBC Parent Toolkit team on putting together an article and resources for today’s “Take Your Child to Work Day.” Although today marks the nationally-recognized day, any day that makes sense for you and your family can become a “Take your child to work day!” And not only, does the following article highlight the conversations you can have when you bring your child to work, it also highlights the ongoing conversations we can have with our children helping them begin to recognize the role of work in our lives, understanding and empathizing with the work responsibilities of Mom and Dad, and also, envisioning how they might shape their contribution to the work world in the future.

Here’s how it begins…

Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day can be an exciting day for kids; a chance to glimpse into the mysterious work life of mom or dad and see what they do every day. You may have conversations with your kids about your work, but how much do they actually understand about what you do? Taking your child to work can be a great opportunity to pull back the curtain a bit and start some important conversations about work, life, and purpose. If you do take your child to work with you, here are some tips to talk with them about what they experienced.

Make the Invisible Visible

Kids have a basic understanding of work, but when it comes down to it, they often don’t really know what their parents do all day long. “I think for many of us, our work is very abstract and hard for kids to get their minds around,” says Jennifer Miller, a Parent Toolkit expert and a family and education consultant. “So much of our work is invisible.”

Miller suggests looking for ways to really show kids what you do, and emphasize that in conversations. Daily or weekly, you may share some exciting or big news with your family about work, but what was the process that got you there? What challenges did you encounter? Who did you have to work with? How did you solve problems? These specific details will help kids understand what work looks like and that it is more than simply going to the same place every day. Bringing kids to work offers a perfect opportunity to highlight these details. “That exposure is key to starting the conversation,” Miller says.

Read the full article with numerous simple, helpful tips on the NBC Parent Toolkit site. And thanks Esta Pratt-Kielly for the opportunity to contribute and the incredible resources you put together to support parents on this important topic!

Here are just a few of the tip sheets NBC Parent Toolkit produced to share with their own work place today in 30 Rockefeller Plaza in downtown Manhattan, New York.