Wouldn't she observe her mother do all these things during summer? Or would the day at home be a lot more structured and come with explanations?

The school still should have let her do it.

Someone should try to find some of the video and post it. It's hilarious. Roseanne goes through all the things she does- taking the whole class to the supermarket, making dinner, etc.

Except, if you don't have a professional chauffer's license, you're not really a "chauffer." If you write checks and balance the checkbook, it doesn't make you a "CPA." Cooking food for the family, whether it's just popping things into the microwave or doing the whole "from scratch" deal doesn't entitle you to call yourself a "chef." Procuring the ingredients at the supermarket doesn't make you a "buyer".

Cleaning puts you on a par with the illegal immigrants, who would be lucky to get minimum wage and probably don't. Watching out for the small children and caring for their needs - isn't that something that is actually expected of parents? You're not exactly entitled to consider yourself an au paire for doing it.

Sure, housewifery is important. So is regular bathing and grooming, but it's just something that people are expected to do, not an occupation in and of itself.

Stay-at-home parents might consider showing the children what they do in the evening or on a weekend. After all, the children actually visit the "workplace" all the time.

When the kids have an official physical fitness or sports awareness day, they can go down to the poolhall and watch their drunk deatbeat dads play eightball. Lots of lessons learned there too.

The point of "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" ("Child") was to show girls that there are options outside the home. I don't see this is some big outrage. I've got no problem with women staying at home, but it is the status quo that "TYDTWD" was challenging. Whether it was the teacher's call to make...well, that's a little tougher.

This is ridiculous....Kate. Doesn't the daughter get to see her mother work on weekends ?

Ah yes, something like raising the next generation is not nearly as important as data entry, writing ad copy, overseeing employees, trading derivatives, or talking people into buying things. Illegal immigrants the ones who should be taking care of basic human needs, real working Americans should be spending their day giving blowjobs to the Great God Economy (apologies if you were being sarcastic like I initially thought you were).

Kudos to the author for promoting a version of feminism that doesn't just regurgitate the values of capitalist patriarchy.

First things first take your kids to work day is one of the dumber ideas of the last few decades. Kids bored out of their minds and by no fault of their own killing the productivity of everyone else in the office.

Second, its about time someone spoke the truth about housewives/husbands. Once the kids are in school your "job" is pretty easy and most of the required tasks for the job can be done in less than 15 -20 hours a week.

The point of the onetime "Take Your Daughters to Work Day" was to get kids into places they don't normally see, such as the data-entry center, the police evidence room, the clinic, the factory or the trucking dispatching center...things that they wouldn't see, and this not know about. Now, I agree that her mom's work is greuling and important, but are we saying the daughter never saw her mom at work? Having her watch her mom's work is like inviting the postal letter carrier out for a nice long walk on his day off.

On another tack - it does remind me of an old "Wizard of Id" cartoon. A woman approaches Sir Rodney at a desk, he asks what her work experience is, she says she's a housewife, and he says "Yes, but do you have any real work experience?" The third panel shows a doctor walking in with his handbag and saying "He has a mop handle where?"

Why even open up that can of worms unless the teacher is just a control freak with too much time on her hands? Seriously, if the concern is kids slacking off, require them as a component of having the day off to write a report on the topic of working.

Only someone with an axe to grind (or again, too much time on their hands) is eager to get into a discussion of which kids' parents have "professional" enough jobs to qualify for Take Your Child to Work Day. Is Walmart cashier "professional"?

And, in my kids' school district, parents can excuse their children for whatever they want, as long as absences aren't excessive. Unless there's something more to the story, sounds to me like the teacher just doesn't like that family much.

My goodness, the world sure is a strange place when jokes from a 15-20 year old episode of the Simpsons are delivered with a straight face by school officials!

leftneck Ah yes, something like raising the next generation is not nearly as important as data entry, writing ad copy, overseeing employees, trading derivatives, or talking people into buying things. Illegal immigrants the ones who should be taking care of basic human needs, real working Americans should be spending their day giving blowjobs to the Great God Economy (apologies if you were being sarcastic like I initially thought you were).

Kudos to the author for promoting a version of feminism that doesn't just regurgitate the values of capitalist patriarchy.

Wow, you really did a great job of equating not professional with unimportance, despite absolutely zero evidence of that being the assumption. Your outrage meter is impressive girl. Bonus points for using the word "capitalist patriarchy". Always remember, The Patriarchy is around every corner, looking to repress and abuse you! Keep up the fight!

leftneck Kudos to the author for promoting a version of feminism that doesn't just regurgitate the values of capitalist patriarchy.

Couldn't resist here.. You DO realize that the vast majority of stay-at-home mom's (whom I respect and would be fine with being myself under the right circumstances) are supported by their husbands, whom you so lovingly refer to as the oppressive Capitalist Patriarchy. Oh the irony!!