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Comment by jemmyw | Hacker News Reader

I agree. I used to occasionally take my daughter into the office in Copenhagen when she was 5. The first time I thought I'd have to sacrifice some of my work time to make sure she was Ok and stop her getting underfoot / disrupting anyone else. Instead she got taken away by the design department to help make company videos.

When I worked for the same company in America - no way. I wouldn't have even tried.

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I guess you work in the wrong location then. I see people taking their kids to work quite often.

To me as someone without children, if I worked in that design department and was forced to work from the office, they’d have my resignation the morning of the second time this happened.

Get a babysitter or work from home.

I didn’t chose for people to have children that they miss all day. I shouldn’t be burdened at work by their choice. At least not twice.

Because a 5 year old was present?

If I’m obligated to work at a place where I can’t avoid children, then I’ll find a different workplace.

Obviously I couldn’t say my reason for resigning out loud in polite company. Children are a joy and a treasure.

But I’m not the only one of your colleagues who secretly doesn’t want to hear anything about your children and resents you (the hypothetical “you”) for bringing them to work.

I’m just not allowed to admit it, even during an exit interview.

Are you in Europe? Because if you're in America, I think you're making jemmyw's point for them...

Whether I'm in America or Europe or elsewhere, I'm not the only colleague who doesn't want people to bring their children to the office.

Although perhaps in America colleagues and bosses are more vocal about it, as jemmyw implied.

I don't really like being around kids either but they are part of life and I think your attitude shows how disconnected we've become from home and family at work in a quite negative way. When I was a kid I used to go into my father's office all the time in the 80s. Home and work and office and friends all seemed a little more intermingled.

With that attitude, probably good for everyone.

Nobody was obligated to do anything. We had a lot of space in the office and she could have happily watched TV on her laptop and done some coloring in the corner with me. I would have left if she was disruptive, but she was very calm. The design department came and took her because they wanted to. I didn't ask them to look after her, I was actually reluctant to let her get involved. I would never have asked someone else to look after my kid, they actively wanted to involve her and asked me about bringing her in again.

I think in the circumstances your resignation would have made you look a total prat.

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