NO CHILD'S PLAY
Does taking babies to workplace help in striking a balance between work and family, eventually doing good to both kids and parents?
New Zealand speaker Trevor Mallard made Parliament a more parent-friendly place by feeding MP Tamati Coffey's sixweek-old son while he was presiding over a debate. Mallard, father of three adult children, with six grandchildren, hoped ‘more employers would follow his lead’. The footage and the images are doing the rounds on social media, receiving mixed reactions.
However, this is not the first time such an incident happens. Politicians, from other countries, have done this before with varying intent and reactions. One of the first women to take their babies to Parliament was Michelle Dockrill from the Canadian New Democratic party in 1998. Licia Ronzulli made headlines in Italy when she brought her daughter to work when she was just six weeks old back in September 2010. In 2012, Canadian MP Sana Hassainia arrived at the House of Commons with her threemonth-old baby. Carolina Bescansa, a member of parliament for Spanish anti-austerity party Podemos, garnered international headlines and her opponents' rage when she took her baby to parliament. Supporters praised the working mother's willingness to display her maternal responsibilities as parliament reconvened under a heated political environment following December's uncertain elections, but critics and somefeminist groups in Spain railed at the MP's action. Carolina's party said the MP was trying to make “a symbolic gesture on behalf of all women who try to strike a balance between work and family and today are unable to do so.”
We, therefore, ask people from different walks whether they have done the right thing by 'striking a balance between work and family' or these instances are political and not 'maternal or paternal', and if it is a feasible idea to bring babies to work and what are its implications. We ask life experts, psychologists, company officebearers, parents and youngsters regarding their take.