Child care and work ...

So, by that logic, someone working at Taco Bell should bring their kids to work too? And the deli-slicer at the local supermarket should as well?

I don't see the connection.

Just because you don't make a ton of money doesn't give you the right to bring your kids to work whenever you feel like it. Again, if it was a one-time thing, I wouldn't have had a problem with it. Hell, if the kids stood in the break room and watched DVDs I wouldn't have cared. But they were actively distracting me and others and that's what soured me on the whole idea.

 

I think what Baron is saying has more to do with expectations.
If you're being paid a livable wage, it's expected you can afford child care.
If you're being paid crap, paying for child care isn't always an option. If it was a problem, you first confront the parent; if that doesn't work, then you talk to the appropriate bosses.
I'm sure if you spoke to the mother, she'd be mortified. If I bring my child into the office - hell, if I bring her out in general - my No. 1 goal is to take care of her and No. 2 is to make sure she's not bothering anyone. It's why Mrs. Rhody has sat in the parking lot of a supermarket waiting for Lil Rhody to quiet down so she could go in and why we haven't had the guts to go out for breakfast yet.

 

Have you taken the baby out to eat at all? Our 2-month-old can be cranky as hell at various times during the day, but he's pretty good when he's out. We've probably taken him out to some sort of meal 12-15 times.

 

Yes, that is what I'm saying.

It's damn hard to find reliable people that you can trust to care for your kids. We've gone through multiple babysitters through the years because some of them just weren't very reliable.

My parents used to take me to work sometimes, usually during holiday times. They couldn't find someone to watch me. So it's either they stay home with me, or they bring me in. They needed the money, their bosses needed them to work, so I came with them.

Same with this woman. Either she stays home until she finds someone to watch them, or they come in. Now how the kids behave is a different matter. She should do her best to make sure they'll be entertained and not be a major distraction. But you also have to remember. They're kids.

And child care also costs money. I usually worked a late shift at my former Gannett paper. Sometimes they'd want me to come in earlier for some meeting (which was usually about some useless corporate crap). I'd tell them I couldn't because my wife worked during the day, and I had to watch my kids until I handed them off to her.

Unless they wanted to pay me OT for the extra time to pay for the babysitters, or to bring in my kids to the meeting to listen to their latest idiotic initiative, I wasn't coming in earlier. To do so would cost me money that I didn't have. Naturally, they didn't want to pay extra, so I usually skipped most of the meetings, unless they were of major importance.

 

Obviously I'm in favor of being able to bring kids along to work at times, but I will concede that in doing this the parent has a great responsibility to pick those spots carefully, both for co-workers and for the children.

 

If I would have taken our daughter to a football game when she was 3 months old my wife would have kicked my ass.

 

A plan that requires everything to go right in order to work is not a plan.

 

So it's pretty much unanimous, right folks?

 

Like all parenting issues.

 

Once the kids are about 5 or so, you might be able to take them to certain events without too much trouble.

 

At that point, they can start looking for their own jobs.

 

That's what I find interesting about this thread. 99.99% of parenting issues, people argue. In this case, everybody agrees = bad idea. I'm curious how Rhody worked it out?