Take Your Child to Work Day

For my 7yo, hearing she couldn’t go to Take Your Child to Work Day at daddy’s office until she turned eight was, well, horrifically painful, soul-torturing, complete and total devastation. Everyone was doing it. She turned to me for options.

“Can I stay home with you and write?”

“Well, I hardly write on Thursdays, because your sister is home.”

“Can I stay home with you and write?”

“No, you can’t stay home to watch me not work.”

“Can I stay home with you and write?”

“Do you have potatoes in your ears?”

“I don’t like potatoes.”

“Right. Well, I was going to write tonight. If you get your homework done, I’ll take you to work with me.”

“Like in the office?”

“Yes. Like. In the office.”  

Then I realized if I was going to make it legitimate, I needed to be able to explain what I do. The truth is, well, squishy. I spend a lot of time writing in my head while staring at the swan across the street. Sometimes writing means just banging my head on the desk. Often it just looks like me pacing around muttering, “Swayed? No. Shimmied? No. Sashayed? No? Skippidoodliedooed? No! Argh, what is the perfect word???”

I decided to save that reality check for when she tells me she wants to be a writer. For today, I would keep it simple.

So in honor of Take Your Child to Work Day, here is what I do:



I could have gone super: idea, write, make it better, and blam-o—a finished book! But I wanted to be more accurate and at least include the idea of drafts which they learn about in first grade (yes, that’s true!) and critique which is such an important part of the process.


Happy Take Your Child to Work Day! 

Comments

  1. I always love your charts Lauri!! This one is perfect. Wait, first-class? No, unparalleled. Or how about outstanding? I love the thesaurus too. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, first graders would think I was insane trying to find the right word. (Though they wouldn't be that far off either :) )

      Delete
  2. Maybe someday you and your daughter can collaborate on a book. Something tells me she's got that creative gene, just like her mother. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The best part was teaching her the trick to think of three ideas - the third one will be better than the first. So in her story, at first the princess couldn't go to the zoo because she didn't have a car, then because she lost her tickets, then because when she woke up the entire kingdom was asleep! That was a nice twist:)

      Delete
  3. LOVE this chart, Lauri :) And yay for you that you did this with her and an even bigger YAY for her wanting to :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have to say she was very good. Because she can be a HANDFUL! And it helped me be creative too.

      Delete
  4. My son also wanted to stay home with me. Ellen and I nixed that idea, however, so he went to the middle school to watch his mom teach. Alex got the day off from school only to spend his day at another school. I'm not sure how he felt about that.

    If he did stay with me, I would never have used that time to write; Alex is far too distracting for me to be even remotely productive. Instead, I would've shown him how to do laundry and clean a toilet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He is very creative. Maybe he could come up with a safer method for tucking the sheet corners :)
      I actually took her through Carrie Brown's Plot Connector (somebody - wanted- but - so - then), and we drafted stories together. My manuscript turned out fabulous! I'm really excited about it, and it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't taken that time to teach. **and it has an excellent poop joke and other far out silliness**

      Delete
  5. LOL, my husband unexpectedly got the day off yesterday, and I was going to meet him at the halfway point after I dropped kids off at school. While we were getting ready, I teased my four year old that he was going to have to moved boxes (daddy's a delivery driver). My oldest girl was fooled. "Is he really going to work with Dad?" No, the company doesn't have those days. But I didn't know that yesterday REALLY was take your child to work day. --JEN Garrett

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now that would be a fun day with Dad. Or at least a half day! I think you've got your plan for next year! I was reading that it's really about taking any child to work - so your kid doesn't have to see what you do 10 years in a row. :)

      Delete
  6. I'd like to go to work with my mom. She works at a museum... or I'd just like to stay home. ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can I go to work with your mom too?! Now you know what to request in exchange for a great report card or a new AR record or something. Actually, we could even start a campaign next April called "Erik's Mom Must Take Him to Work!"

      Delete

Post a Comment

**All comments are moderated to avoid attacks by pesky pirates and roving dragons!**