Visiting the Office: What Some Kids Saw

Did you take a kid to work with you on Take Your Child to Work Day last month? I packed along my 9- and 11-year-old daughters, plus a loaner, as the company I work for had a day of activities planned for the kids.

Since I work for a large publisher specializing in technology-related products and events, I figured it would be especially enlightening for three young girls to get a look at what goes on behind the scenes in the software developing groups, information technology department and numerous technology-related printed publications.

They joined a group of kids who ranged in age from 4 to 12, and in expectations from “Wow!” to “I brought a book in case I get bored.” Highlights of the day, as reported to me, included:

* Checking out the phone gizmos and gadgets at the reception desk, including those to make companywide intercom announcements and--a favorite--putting people on hold.

* Following mail room workers through a typical day.

* Playing several software games, including one that required shooting down “some alien bug things” with spaceships.

* Designing a magazine cover with their own pictures on it.

* Being interviewed about their day for a mock magazine cover feature, “A Day in the Life of a Professional,” which was printed out for them to take home.

* Watching an art director at work, using Photoshop to crop, manipulate and enhance digital images of themselves.

But what were the kids really taking home from the day?

I interviewed them for an answer to that question. Justin, 10, learned that his mom worked on the second floor, though he still wasn’t exactly sure what she did. Erin, also 10, was impressed with how much fun everybody seemed to be having. “I was surprised,” she said. “I thought it would be all stuffy.”

Hannah, 9, said she was considering becoming an art director for a Web site, but I think that response was mainly to appease an adult looking for something to write about. Missing a day at school turned out to be the real high point on her list. Armando, 8, summed up what the day meant to him by looking around the room at the other kids and saying simply, “We’re friends.”

You want your kids to go away from days like these with some kind of profound understanding of your craft, because it’s what you do. But it might have been forcing things a bit to try to elicit responses from the kids about what they had learned without giving them time to process all they had seen.

Were they impressed by our jobs and by the technology we use? I think the various technologies made an impression. There was some real magic taking place as they crowded around to watch the art director crop a digital photo to emphasize a perspective or use Photoshop to change the color of a dress or the position of an arm.

But I think it’s the bigger picture that will stay with them for the long haul. What they saw were people working in teams to make things happen--and enjoying themselves while they were at it. More than anything else, it seems, that will be the valuable lesson they learned that day.

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Susan McLester is editor of Technology & Learning magazine.