I think it would depend on the job. If it is an office job and the kid stayed out of the way of business, I don't think it is bad. If it is some sort of factory where they could be hurt, probably not.

If everytime I walked into a business I saw kids, it wouldn't bother me if they were well behaved. But some people would complain just because they like to complain about stuff.

Almost always.

It would depend on the type of business you work in. If I walked into a doctor's office or dentist's office, odds are that I would think that the child was simply another patient or the child of a patient. If, however, I am walking into a lawyer's office and saw that the attorney had their child with them, I would think twice about working with that attorney. Fair or not, it would make me question that person's organizational skills (why do they not have childcare, if they knew they had their child why didn't they reschedule our appointment) as well as the level of attention that would be paid to my case. What if some small detail gets missed because the child spills its milk or something along those lines? The same type of thought would follow someone working as a realtor or a banker. I would wonder if I wasn't going to get the full service that I am paying for since the person I am paying is not just working - they are also caring for their child.

If I was a manager, I might be willing to let someone bring their child in when absolutely necessary, again dependent on the type of work/office involved. However, I will say that that might affect my view of that person's dedication to their job, and if mistakes happen when the child is in the office, I would wonder even more. The same questions I would have as a client would occur even more - why can the employee not make proper childcare arrangements? While a one-time thing is understandable, repeated childcare issues might make me think that the employee is just not organized, isn't paying attention or not able to solve personal issues on personal time.

I don't know your personal circumstance - what your job is, how your relationship with your boss is, what your childcare situation is that you end up taking your daughter to work. Perhaps none of what I would think applies to you. But I would recommend taking a second look, and perhaps devising another back-up solution.

I suppose the main thing is that sometimes taking a child to work is necessary. An unplanned day care situation or babysitting cancellation happens. That is understandable. As far as how it looks that probably depends a lot on the nature of the business and the behavior of the child.

If your job does not require a strong front office presence or if the child waits for you in the back office or employee lounge area, the chances for clients to see the child and pass judgment are slim.

If the child is visible to clients, then to be honest every person will have a different opinion as I'm certain that you will see by the replies here. For those clients inclined in such a way, it will seem irrevocably as unprofessional, for others it will seem as caring.

If your child is well mannered, your boss is truly OK with it and it happens only on that rare occurrence, you should not worry if the occasional person decides to criticize you for it. Personally I believe that the fact that you are willing to take your child to work instead of missing a day shows professionalism.

Yes, unless its career day.

Sounds like you have a great boss! I'm sorry to say this, but if I was a client and I walked in with no prior knowledge of this, I would feel it was a little unprofessional. An exception might be if this was in a field at least loosely connected to children or education. However, as long as your child isn't intrusive, it may be something that clients warm up to over time. I'm sure at least some of them would like to say hello and would even find the whole thing to be a pretty positive experience.

I think it is unprofessional. Here's why:

If a child is taken to the office outside of a "career day" event, it usually implies the following chain of logic:

1. If child is at office, child is young enough to require supervision and not be left alone.
2. If child requires supervision, you are spending work time/thought supervising rather than working.
3. If you are doing something other than working, you aren't working at your full potential.
4. Offices are not optimized for child care.
5. If a parent brings a child to a sub-optimum environment for care, they are making a choice (choosing not to plan ahead or have contingency plans) to provide sub-optimum care which reflects poorly on parenting and decision making skills.

Also, in my experience, when people bring children to work, the following things often occur:

* Nice colleagues often fuss over the child which slightly distracts them from their jobs
* The child is often given computer access or other office resources to entertain and occupy them.

As a client, I would be concerned that the presence of a child in a business environment would imply a lack of focus on business tasks. It would also make me think that the person I am dealing with isn't trying to make a good impression, and worse, might not have good organizational and decision making skills.

You used the phrase "when I absolutely have to". If that means once or twice a year, it probably isn't a big deal if your boss is okay with it. While unprofessional, most people do some unprofessional things on rare occasions without really harming their careers or harming client relationships. After all, nobody is perfect. If "when I absolutely have to" means 1-2 times per month (i.e. 12-24 times per year), it is a repeated pattern of unprofessional behavior rather than a forgivable compromise for an unforeseeable emergency.

Don't get me wrong, I am not without sympathy and think it is great that you care enough not to dump your child at a completely unsuitable place. Nevertheless, it IS unprofessional as it puts a personal issue before work. It is similar to employees that are late to work and have great excuses. If they are rare events people tend to be sympathetic. If it becomes a pattern, people start to think poorly of the offenders and their names are the first that come up during lay offs and the last to come to mind for raises and promotions.