I thought I knew what to expect. The first Speed Take Your Kids to Work Day was a strange experiment intended to allow parents to show their little darlings what where they worked was like, and give colleagues a taste of what we have to put up with on a daily basis.
My expectation was that very little ‘proper’ work would get done. But it has. Largely, most people here seem to have got on with things as normal, pausing to say hello to the kids and pick them up when they are engaged in collision with a pot plant. Personally I thought my productivity would dip well below 50 per cent, but I’ve been able to get a good four or five hours’ work done by 2pm, and still have things to finish this afternoon.
It’s by no means work/life balance, but it hasn’t been the whirlwind of distraction I imagined either.
Read more here about what the kids have been getting up to, what they thought of the experience.
A summary of what my brood have been doing today:
- Saskia, 5: chalkboard drawing, testing toys, cake decorating, web site browsing
- Alfie, 2 (very nearly 3): as above, minus computers, plus getting his fingers stuck in the front door
- Ivan, 1: as above, plus trying to answer phones, trying to break phones, trying to send emails before they’re ready to go
It’s been a really interesting exercise. An annual exercise, hopefully. Providing they do their timesheets.
