Children in the workplace

[Directional_State_U]

What are the policies in your dept. / institution about children at work?

A colleague of mine had been bringing an infant to work part-time due to a lack of available infant child-care in the region (literally not a single licensed care-giver available). Someone reported it to the Dean (anonymous), Dean instructed person that the infant could not come to work. Infant was kept in the faculty member's office, door mostly closed (closed if baby was being fussy). Faculty thought this was better than working from home as they could be available to students/faculty. To me, this seems a bit heavy-handed given that we are in a rural area, claim to be family-friendly, and have trouble retaining faculty due to our geographic location including lack of resources such as child care.

[Parasaurolophus]

I haven't paid much attention to our policies, but we have a big daycare right on campus.

[onthefringe]

I haven't paid much attention to our policies, but we have a big daycare right on campus.

We do too, but the waitlist is so long that I know people who got on he list when they were 6 weeks pregnant who didn't get a slot until the child in question was 2.5 years old.

I'm fairly sure our policies would technically forbid this (keeping a newborn in your office), but doubt many people would report it.

It does not seem like a good long term plan for anyone though.

[Hegemony]

I don't know that we have an official policy — I've never heard of it if so.  I think the unofficial policy is that we recognize that children, even immobile babies, are usually distracting and that campus offices are not the optimum place for them, but sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.  I know we had a (male) grad student whose wife worked a full-time office job, and sometimes their childcare fell through and he brought the baby in for office hours. Again, it wasn't optimum, but obviously when you're stuck for childcare, you do what you can.  I think generosity towards children in the office is warranted, as long as it's not a longterm solution — assuming other options are available.

[polly_mer]

The liability problems tend to be ignored by faculty and give administrators heartburn upon learning of more than the occasional short visit.

[kaysixteen]

What does the baby bringing faculty member do with it while teaching a class?

[Directional_State_U]

What does the baby bringing faculty member do with it while teaching a class?

OP here. In this case, baby didn't go to class; both parents were on campus and could trade off. Which is nice if both parents are on campus. Single parents???

That said, On my campus when public schools are closed due to weather, it is not uncommon to see kids hiding out in faculty offices, works room, coloring in the back of classrooms, etc.

[euro_trash]

Policies against children at work will overwhelmingly and disproportionately affect mothers.

[marshwiggle]

Policies against children at work will overwhelmingly and disproportionately affect mothers.

I was a single father with small kids after my wife died, but I still agree the workplace is not the place for children. (And I didn't have family  members in town for emergency child care either.)

[kaysixteen]

I get that, but allowing kid in classrooms disadvantages the students paying for the professor's time.  Only entitled upper middle class academics think they should be allowed to bring children to work.  Lower class single moms don't get to bring baby to Wal-Mart with them.

We have, of course, an affordable childcare problem in this country.  But that doesn't obviate the students' right to unobstructed access to professor.

[Hegemony]

I don't think any of us were talking about the professor's kids actually being in the classroom, were they?  I at least was talking about kids being in office hours, in the hallways while some other work was going on, etc.  In my experience it's more often grad students' kids than professors' kids.

If a professor had a childcare emergency, the question would be which is better for the students: bringing a child to class (and that would differ depending on whether it's a sleeping baby, an active toddler, or a 9-year-old who could sit in the back and read), or cancelling the class altogether?  Different situations would call for different answers.

[Bede the Vulnerable]

I don't think any of us were talking about the professor's kids actually being in the classroom, were they?  I at least was talking about kids being in office hours, in the hallways while some other work was going on, etc.  In my experience it's more often grad students' kids than professors' kids.

If a professor had a childcare emergency, the question would be which is better for the students: bringing a child to class (and that would differ depending on whether it's a sleeping baby, an active toddler, or a 9-year-old who could sit in the back and read), or cancelling the class altogether?  Different situations would call for different answers.

I actually had that experience years ago:  There was an emergency, and I had to watch my three-year-old daughter.  But I didn't feel right about skipping class.  So I brought her.  She was (is) very shy, so I had to hold her the whole time that I was lecturing, with her face buried in my collar.  The students loved it.  But I could see them getting frustrated if it were a regular occurrence, or especially if she had been screaming and running around the room.

We're human, and sub-optimal things happen in human life.  One off, it's not a problem, and may even teach the kiddos something about what they will face in the coming years.  But it's definitely not a long-term solution.

[apl68]

I've BEEN an unattended child on a college campus!  When I was around ten or so my mother was taking summer classes for an MA in English (This was while she was still teaching high school English and Spanish, before burning out on high school and going over to the college teaching world).  The campus was in the county seat about half an hour's drive away.  Ordinarily my younger brother and I would stay at our grandmother's house in town while Mom was in school. 

But there was one week when she was not available.  For at least a couple of days during that week Mom took us to campus and left us outside on the steps of the classroom building for an hour or two while she was taking her class.  My brother and I were under strict instructions not to leave the front area of the building, and could be trusted not to do so.  I recall the weather being nice out.  The campus was a pleasant, grassy place with what seemed then like huge, interesting buildings all around.  Nobody came by and challenged us or harassed us.  There weren't many people around at all.  The main problem was probably boredom, although it's not unlikely I had some reading material with me. 

In today's climate one hears of mothers being arrested and threatened with loss of custody for less.  In the late 1970s?  Nobody seems to have thought anything of it.  It was broad daylight, on a small campus in a small town, in a neighborhood that did not have a reputation for crime.  For many reasons childcare has become a far more fraught issue in today's world.

When I was 13 and my brother not quite 12 the summer care issue was permanently solved in our family by our father taking us to work as his laborers.  He was a self-employed mason, and figured that between us we could manage to do the work of a full-grown mason's laborer.  The small-scale contractors and homeowners he worked for were okay with it, as long as we did a good job.  Dad being something of a perfectionist at his trade, we did.  Again, something one just couldn't get away with in today's world.

[geoteo]

MANY years ago, one of my colleagues would bring her children to campus with her if childcare fell through.  It was easy to overlook when they played quietly in her office, but one day she brought her daughter, who couldn't go to school because she had chicken pox.  The little girl was unhappy and uncomfortable, and left the office to find her mother, roaming the halls, searching the classrooms and labs, and interacting with students.  After that, we heard from the academic dean, and the kids did not return.  The workplace is not the right place for children, although that doesn't solve the problem of what to do with them when care is not available.

[apl68]

MANY years ago, one of my colleagues would bring her children to campus with her if childcare fell through.  It was easy to overlook when they played quietly in her office, but one day she brought her daughter, who couldn't go to school because she had chicken pox.  The little girl was unhappy and uncomfortable, and left the office to find her mother, roaming the halls, searching the classrooms and labs, and interacting with students.  After that, we heard from the academic dean, and the kids did not return.  The workplace is not the right place for children, although that doesn't solve the problem of what to do with them when care is not available.

I still sometimes "overlook" staff members bringing children in to work when necessary.  Again, we can get away with stuff like this in small towns and small institutions (Also, a Board of Trustees member who used to be something of a stickler about such things is no longer around).  But the potential for incidents is always there.  Several years ago a staffer's preteen son attempted to microwave ramen noodles without thinking to put in water.  He burned up a plastic bowl, created a cloud of acrid smoke in the staff break room, and set off our alarm.  It took an expensive call-out from the alarm technician to get the alarms and sprinkler systems reset.  Fortunately no Board members were present that afternoon, and they never found out about it.

Another worker brought her small son a time or two.  He was very naughty and disruptive.  She complained bitterly about relatives not stepping up to provide the child care she needed.  Given what her child seemed to be in the process of turning into, I can see why they were not eager to host him.  As still another staff member's mother once said to her, "I will always love you--but I want you to become somebody that other people can love too."