Children Across County Go to Work--on Career Ideas

Nine-year-old Michelle Westmiller’s right hand flew over the computer keyboard in her parents’ Thousand Oaks paper store Thursday, punching letters in a fast hunt-and-peck. On the screen her mother uses to compose invitations and brochures at The Paper Depot, a business card was taking shape.

Mother Robin Westmiller, sensing her young apprentice needed a hand, reached for the keyboard. But Michelle brushed her away.

“Mom? MOM! I can do it,” she said.

Michelle’s confidence was exactly what the fourth annual Take Our Daughters to Work Day was all about. The national program aims to show young girls the range of careers open to them and boost girls’ confidence in their own abilities.

Last year, 5 million girls between the ages of 9 and 15 participated nationwide, according to the Ms. Foundation for Women, which created the program. Organizers hoped Thursday’s event would draw as many as 8 million girls.

Across Ventura County, girls traded a day in their classes for a day in their parents’ offices, shops and work places. Denise Callaway, an animal control officer, brought her 8-year-old daughter Delyn to the Ventura County animal regulation office at the Camarillo airport and put her to work taking dogs out for exercise.

“I had to walk the dogs and it was hard,” Delyn said, as a black- and gray-striped kitten pawed her fingers.

Denise Callaway was, in a sense, following an example set by her father--a former animal control officer in Bakersfield. She said her father often brought her to work with him, and she later found herself similarly drawn to caring for animals.

“I don’t think I’d be as geared toward it if I hadn’t seen him do it,” she said. “And now I don’t think I’d do anything else.”

Like at other local offices, the animal regulation department also invited employees to bring their sons to work Thursday. Wade Watson, 11, spent the morning with his mother, Gayle, cleaning out kennels for stray dogs and fetching food and water for the animals.

“If they’re going to have a career day, it should be for boys and girls,” Gayle Watson said. “That’s fair.”

Ventura County Fire Marshal Kevin Nestor brought his 13-year-old son, also named Kevin, to the department’s Camarillo office, showing him the radio equipment and taking him into a staff meeting.

“I liked going to dispatch and seeing the way they take calls,” said the younger Kevin.

Although he said he wouldn’t mind following in his father’s footsteps, the day had not been as exciting as Kevin had hoped. “I did a lot of waiting,” he said.

Although many participating companies have now switched to a gender-blended, “Take Our Children to Work” format, organizers want the event to stay focused on girls. The New York-based Ms. Foundation started the program in response to studies showing that as girls enter adolescence, they receive less attention in school than boys and begin to lose self-esteem.

Foundation President Marie Wilson said organizers are not trying to discriminate against boys. Instead, they want a day in which girls do not have to compete for attention.

“It’s not about any discriminatory thing,” she said. “It’s about, ‘How do they get the attention they need?’ ”

Robin Westmiller agreed. If parents want to bring sons to work, she said, someone should organize another event to do it.

For her part, Michelle said she was glad for the opportunity to shadow her parents at work and demonstrate her skills.

“It’s not like we [girls] are not human or can’t run a business,” she said.

Times correspondent Jennifer Kelley contributed to this story

* MAIN STORY: D1