sunnydaytodaymamasunnydaytodaymamasunnydaytodaymamasunnydaytodaymamasunnydaytodaymamasunnydaytodaymamasunnydaytodaymama

9 September 2009

Parenting at Work

I'm a stay-at-home and work-out-of-the-home mum. When Sunnyboy was 5 months old we started going to work together as volunteers in a charity shop. For the first year and a half Sunnyboy was mostly worn in a sling while I worked and from 2 years old he played on the floor beside me. Since then he's gradually joined in with more and more tasks and has learnt so much from being with adults in a work environment. It's been wonderful to work and learn together in a child-friendly workplace with co-workers who have become a community for us, and also to be able to make a positive contribution to our wider local community. When the choice is preschool or work, the decision for us is obvious.

Sorting, testing and pricing toys in the stockroom upstairs















Sorting clothing





Washing up



Loading toys on the lift





Going down the stairs



Stocking the toy shelves





Stocking the bric-a-brac shelves





Having a rest



Serving behind the counter with a co-worker



Using the till



Our locker



The Continuum Concept
Full Time Mothers
Parenting in the Workplace Institute
Babies at Work: Bringing New Life to the Workplace by Carla Moquin
Bringing Baby to Work by Lisa Belkin, Motherlode Blog - NYTimes.com
Back to Work - With Baby by Christina Boufis, Hybrid Mom
Off to Work We Go - Baby in Tow! by Annie Feighery, Mothering
Stay-at-home mums save the country £1bn a year by carrying out volunteer work by Arthur Martin and Emily Andrews, Mail Online
You Can Be A Stay at Home Mom! by Kelley Scarsbrook (video presentation)
Learning is Children's Work by Wendy Priesnitz

33 comments:

  1. SO helpful of sunnyboy! And so hardworking... Adorable little man.

    I am sure you are so proud of him :).

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  2. You and Sunnyboy are so lucky to have the opportunity to do this, what a lovely experience for you both!

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  3. What fab photos of your day at work together, the only thing I wondered is, how on earth do you restrain yourself from buying everything lol :)
    sue x

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  4. How wonderful! Preschool/school could never even begin to offer what he experiences at work with you.

    And how lucky you are in the other charity shop staff. Our local charity shops can barely tolerate children going in - touching the toys causes them to shiver, and touching bric-a-brac? Not allowed :-(

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  5. What an aladin's cave for your lucky boy.

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  6. @Sam, yes we are lucky to have found such a great charity shop to work in. We were shopping in a different charity shop recently and sunnyboy accidently dropped a small plastic toy he was looking at. It didn't break, but the woman in the shop shouted "No" as if he had just thrown a brick through the window. I can't imagine that she would have reacted like that if an adult customer had done the same thing. Fortunately in our charity shop the staff have a little more respect for customers of all ages - and staff of all ages too! :)

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  7. How wise you are to teach him so many things.

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  8. @Ladyviral, oh I am very proud of him :) and the lovely thing is that so are our co-workers!

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  9. @Maire, it's an aladin's cave for me too ;)

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  10. I just totally love that you and Sunnyboy work together!

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  11. @Sue, there are not many days that we don't get tempted to buy something! As you can imagine sunnyboy has a lot of toys :)

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  12. WOW! You guys sure do stay busy! Whew!

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  13. What a great learning environment for Sunnyboy! Looks like he's having a lovely time:-)

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  14. What great memories you guys are creating!

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  15. lovely. i wish shark, squirrel and tiger could help me. i typeset academic books and quite frankly, the spelling of my 9 year olds is terrible. we'd never get away with it.

    but it's tempting now to try.

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  16. i hate having to leave my little ones and go to work every day. i have been trying to get enough support from other parents at my workplace to set up a creche within the office building, so that we can at least be nearer to the kids. but would you believe, many mums i have spoken to say that one of the reasons that they continue to work after having kids is simply just to get away from the house. i find that shocking!

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  17. This is wonderful! It is so important for kids to be along side their parents while they work and to participate in the experience. What a wonderful way to spend time together.

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  18. @Kamana, this article talks about workplace creches.
    http://www.hybridmom.com/articles/work/career/back-work-baby
    How sad about the mums who just want to get away from their children.

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  19. @Grit, we mainly work in the 'toy department', which is particularly suited to sunnyboy's skills! :)

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  20. Super cool girl. I want to volunteer with my kids at a local pioneer farm, I keep thinking about it, but never quite get up the nerve. Maybe soon.

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  21. @Ticia, that sounds great! Go for it :)

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  22. I think bringing your child to work with you is a great idea!! And it's also great when a workplace is open to the idea.

    I'm sure your son is learning a lot of valuable lessons, not to mention the fact that the two of you get to spend lots of time together :-)

    Thanks for visiting Jelly Bean Row :-)

    Kelly @ DesignTies

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  23. I have to say that I've missed seeing what sunnyboy has been up to! What a great little worker he is! I stayed at home with my kids & lucky for me I can take them to work because our shop is in back of my mom & dad's home! It is wonderful thing that you are doing - bravo!!

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  24. That's amazing. Your teaching him amazing qualities and work ethics that will follow him throughout his life.

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  25. This is so lovely! What great lessons you are passing on to him... so inspiring!

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  26. What a happy helper you have there. Way to go sunnyboy!!!

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  27. i am so proud of you for raising such a fine young man! and i am so proud of sunny boy for being so responsible and obedient and thoughtful at such a young age!!

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  28. What an awesome opportunity!! We did the theme on frogs and it went so well. I've been thinking about the roles of women lately. I'm going to have to come back and read more when I have some more time. Self Fulfillment and Full Time Parenting sounds like just what I'm looking for. :) Thanks for the posts.

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  29. Who better to sort and price toys than a toddler?

    Lovely photos, your charity shop sounds like a wonderful place!

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  30. What a great opportunity. I think it's wonderful that the two of you can work together. What a great example!

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  31. He looks like he is having such a good time helping. I think this is great. We do a volunteer work too and my kids love to help and talk to all the people they meet.

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