Bringing your work home with you has been very looked down upon as it has been felt that work time is work time and home time is home time. While I agree with this in some ways, I disagree with it in others, let me tell you why.
At one point I was a stay at home mom raising three wonderful children while dad was in the workforce full time. When he came home at night the last thing he wanted to do was to talk about work, he wanted to spend time with the family and hear about our day. But, we also wanted to hear about his day and connect with his daytime work world. Where was dad all day long and what was he doing?
I made a special point of making sure that we all took “field trips” to dad’s work and that the kids got to meet who dad worked with and saw what he did. This made a big impression on the kids because they then knew where dad was and saw what he actually was doing while away from the family all day. This made such a big difference for our family as a whole because it completed the connection with what their dad did when he was away from them.
Far too many times parents tell their kids that mom or dad has to go to work, but because they are small children they really don’t understand what that means. There is a void, because they do not really know what “work” is.
Many employers honor “bring your son or daughter to work day” I think this is great, your kids need to know where you go and who you are with, it completes the picture for them. The company that my children’s father worked for had a once a year family day at local parks or theme parks, and each year we all went to meet all of the people who dad worked with and their children, it was awesome for all of us because of the positive connection it made between a parent working and being away from home and being able to see all of the families that were doing the same thing.
Maybe the company you work for doesn’t do family events, but it doesn’t mean that you cannot make your work more personal with your family. Maybe you can invite a co-worker and their family to dinner, or bring pictures of your workplace home for your family to see. Take a moment and think about your children or spouse, are they able to connect with your work life? If not, take some time to see how you can make the connection happen, it really makes a difference to feel a part of each others whole life.
“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” — George Santayana
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