Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day teaches kids about the professional rewards of education and hard work. This year is the 20th anniversary of the day, which will be recognized on April 25. Typically, over 37 million adults and youth ages 8 to 18 participate. It is an excellent way to expose children to a variety of careers as well as concepts such as professionalism, teamwork and the value of education.

If you’re considering participating, here are some hints to make the day rewarding for both you and the child.

1. You can participate even if you’re not a parent. The day is called Take Our Sons and Daughters to Work Day, which means that you can ask your neighbors, family members and friends if their children would be interested in learning about your career or your company. The same applies if you have children, but they’ve already been to work with you several times or just aren’t interested in going.

On the same note, if you have a child who isn’t interested in going to your workplace, see if they would like to go with a trusted friend or family member. Be sure you ask your friends or family before you mention anything to the child.

2. Plan ahead. Like with any activity, a little planning goes a long way. See if your company has planned activities, and consider how your child will participate throughout the work day. What would you like them to do or see you do? Get the child’s input about what they want to learn and see. You should also explain to them what to expect and how to act while at your work.

Try to make the day interesting and interactive. Go beyond job shadowing, but avoid asking them to make big decisions or take important phone calls. If things do go off plan or something goes wrong, stay positive and adapt.

Be sure that you don’t bring your children into an unsafe or inappropriate environment. For extra insight, talk with other people who have brought their children to work and see what worked well for them and what they might have done differently.

3. Introduce your co-workers. Explain that person’s job and their role in the organization to help children better understand the concepts of teamwork and responsibility. Have them show professionalism by shaking hands. Meeting with your co-workers is also a way to demonstrate the value of face-to-face interaction in business.

4. Ask the child to share the experience. One of the goals, in addition to having children learn about a workplace, is to encourage children to educate each other about their experiences. As part of this, tell the child’s teacher what you have planned, so that the child is more likely to share what they learned. At the end of the day, sit down with the kid to discuss what they enjoyed most and what they learned. Have them write a few sentences about the experience so that they can share it with classmates.

Sources

• http://www.daughtersandsonstowork.org/
• http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacquelynsmith/2012/04/25/the-dos-and-donts-of-take-your-kids-to-work-day/
• http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-57420809/making-bring-your-child-to-work-day-meaningful/

As Americans, we pride ourselves on working hard and doing whatever we feel is necessary for our jobs. This often means working long hours and being unable to turn off the stress of the workplace when we’re home with our families. Most of us are given a certain number of vacation days to use each year, but an increasing number of us are forgoing these days in favor of even more time in the daily grind.

The common thought is that, if you take a vacation, they’ll miss out on important developments at work. In this economy, employees wear the title of “workaholic” like a badge of honor.

But does working 16 hour days, without a vacation in sight, have any tangible benefits?

Not really, when you think about it.

The constant stress of a busy workplace can actually kill productivity. Imagine that you have a major project you’re working on with a hard deadline. You stay at work long after everyone else has gone home for the day in order to crank it out. But after hours upon hours of work, you lose focus and your brain can no longer come up with useful ideas.

Imagine that you’re working on the same project, but you break up the work into smaller chunks of time. It’s beneficial to turn off the computer, sleep on it, and come back refreshed the next day.

The same is especially true of vacation time. If you have it available to you, use it! That’s what it’s there for! It will give you the chance to spend quality time with your family and to recharge your batteries away from work. Changes are that you’ll come back from vacation with new inspirations and be able to look at projects with fresh eyes.

Enjoy the summer and relax when you can!