Children in the workplace

[Caracal]

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.

In general terms, sure, but we are also aren't working on a trading floor, or as truck drivers and kids are not actually going to create some sort of liability nightmare. In practice, I think I've seen kids on occasion in every institution I've ever been at. This is just one of those things where as long as everyone exercises good judgement, nobody should be a jerk about it. Obviously you shouldn't have an unsupervised kid with a contagious disease on campus, nor would I try to bring my messy toddler to class, but if your kid is old enough to be quiet and unobtrusive, who cares?

[kaysixteen]

You're right in theory, but what happens when that ostensibly quiet and unobtrusive child starts acting out in class or, perhaps more pointedly, in professor parent's office during office hour appointment with student?  College kids aren't necessarily going to want to confront profs even though they might well strongly resent having class ruined.

[polly_mer]

You're right in theory, but what happens when that ostensibly quiet and unobtrusive child starts acting out in class or, perhaps more pointedly, in professor parent's office during office hour appointment with student?  College kids aren't necessarily going to want to confront profs even though they might well strongly resent having class ruined.

And there's still the liability of having people on campus who are not enrolled, employed, or otherwise invited.  Seriously, that's a thing even for a seemingly low-hazard environment like faculty offices where people have been known to become seriously injured by messing around in the rolly chairs. No one believes until that lawsuit comes for tens of thousands of dollars.

[apl68]

You're right in theory, but what happens when that ostensibly quiet and unobtrusive child starts acting out in class or, perhaps more pointedly, in professor parent's office during office hour appointment with student?  College kids aren't necessarily going to want to confront profs even though they might well strongly resent having class ruined.

And there's still the liability of having people on campus who are not enrolled, employed, or otherwise invited.  Seriously, that's a thing even for a seemingly low-hazard environment like faculty offices where people have been known to become seriously injured by messing around in the rolly chairs. No one believes until that lawsuit comes for tens of thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately it doesn't take a lot of disruptive incidents to bring about crackdowns that spoil flexibility for everybody.  The possibility has always made me nervous when I've looked the other way, and a public library is a very low-hazard work environment in most respects.

[marshwiggle]

Obviously you shouldn't have an unsupervised kid with a contagious disease on campus, nor would I try to bring my messy toddler to class, but if your kid is old enough to be quiet and unobtrusive, who cares?

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but what about privacy laws if a child is present when a prof is meeting with a student? What if the child is in middle school and posts something on Facebook about the student? It may sound like a long shot, but it's a liability to the institution.

[Caracal]

Obviously you shouldn't have an unsupervised kid with a contagious disease on campus, nor would I try to bring my messy toddler to class, but if your kid is old enough to be quiet and unobtrusive, who cares?

I don't think it's been mentioned yet, but what about privacy laws if a child is present when a prof is meeting with a student? What if the child is in middle school and posts something on Facebook about the student? It may sound like a long shot, but it's a liability to the institution.

Well, for starters I don't think many people are bringing their middle school aged children to the office. By the time I was that age, I could be home by myself. But all of this seems basically disingenuous. If these supposed liability issues were really so grave, would take your daughters to work day exist? It isn't as if there is some no child on campus policy in general. People are free to bring a kid all over the place on campus, so I'm not really sure why a kid sitting in the office suddenly becomes some grave liability risk when they can be busy jumping down the stairs of the chemistry building.

Of course, kids shouldn't habitually be on campus, but making an issue of a kid being in an office once in a blue moon is just obnoxious and not particularly family friendly.

[Caracal]

You're right in theory, but what happens when that ostensibly quiet and unobtrusive child starts acting out in class or, perhaps more pointedly, in professor parent's office during office hour appointment with student?  College kids aren't necessarily going to want to confront profs even though they might well strongly resent having class ruined.

What happens if I decide to show porn in my class or go on rants about the illuminati? "College kids aren't necessarily going to want to confront profs even though they might well strongly resent having class ruined." This isn't really the worst thing that is going to happen if a professor has bad judgement. Obviously if there's any chance at all that a kid is going to disrupt class than it would be a terrible idea to bring them. People might do this on very rare occasions because a nine year old has the impulse control and social awareness to not be a problem. If it becomes a regular occurrence,  not good, but I just have a problem with the idea that no tolerance policies should be made and enforced. Ultimately, they will probably hurt women more and are hostile towards families.

[larryc]

The ability to sometimes bring our kids to work is part of the ancient rights of faculty.

I am sure we have a policy--and I am guessing that it is NO--but faculty kids are fairly common and unremarked upon on my campus. I brought Wonderboy to campus a fair bit back in the day. Sometimes I'd put him in a Johnny Jump Up in my office door. He was never around for more than a few hours a handful of times a month. When he got older I would sometimes hire one of the student helpers to go take him to the cafeteria for ice cream.

Wonderboy is long grown, but one of my colleagues brings his sweet little kid to the department pretty often. I am going to take him for ice cream.

[eigen]

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.

This is totally at odds with my experience growing up in a poverty stricken rural area.

Kids got brought everywhere with parents to work. It's actually one of the issues when Wal-Mart replaces the local grocery store and hardware store- the people who own the local stores understand needing to take care of kids, or the owners children grow up being there all the time. Corporations don't care.

Far from being an "entitled upper middle class" thing to have kids where parents work, I'd argue that it's only a recent middle-class entitlement that makes us think children don't belong there. The upper-middle class among us are used to the fact that families can either afford care, or that there are places (schools) that are designed to have kids there all the time. But those are recent innovations, and honestly it's a very privileged perspective to see things that way, imo.

Heck, it's still regular to have kids working in the field with parents in Amish communities, or in other places around the world where agriculture is dominant. My mechanic regularly has his kids in the shop with him.

The truth is not that it isn't common for kids to be in a workplace, but that employers who don't want complications want to keep kids out of the workplace. They worry about liability, they worry about distraction. But that doesn't make it "normal".

[S-4711]

My college has an excellent daycare center for children of all employees. On very rare occasions a faculty member brought in an older child to the office. I don't know of any faculty member there who had the effrontery to bring their child to class.

[Caracal]

My college has an excellent daycare center for children of all employees. On very rare occasions a faculty member brought in an older child to the office. I don't know of any faculty member there who had the effrontery to bring their child to class.

I suspect plenty of faculty members have brought their child to class. Probably, nobody noticed, cared, or remarked upon it, because the child was old enough to quietly read a book in the back of the room.

[Aster]

At Big Urban College, employees are prohibited from bringing their children into the workplace.

It gets fuzzier with students. If a *student* brings a child onto campus or the classroom, it is permitted so long as the professor or supervisor allows it.