Babies and Briefcases

Who says you can’t mix business and pleasure? More and more working mothers are combining travel for work with a chance to take the kids on a trip that’s educational and fun. Increasingly, when women travel for business they are taking not only their children but also their spouses, their babysitters and even their mothers along. “My company’s annual conference was in Orlando” says Marcie, a mother of nine year old twins.  “Since I was already flying for free and my company paid for the hotel, it made sense to bring the boys, take a few extra days, and turn the trip into a short family vacation.  It would have been strange to be at Disneyworld without them.

While business travel in general is down about 15% this year, the number of women traveling for business continues to grow. As more working mothers travel, more are opting to bring along the kids. In fact, according to the Travel Industry Association of America, during the past decade, parents who took children along on their business trips increased from 2.5 to 12.2 percent. “Parents bring their kids on business trips primarily for peace of mind,” says Christine Tempesto, founder and president of the San-Diego based KiddieCorp, which provides childcare for conventions, trade shows and corporate meetings around the country. “Leaving a child home when you travel overnight can be unsettling.”

Although business trips can give families an excuse for a mini vacation, single parents often have no alternative but to pack up the kids. “When my company sent me to a training program across the country I had to bring my two year old daughter,” said Mary Ellen a single mother from a Boston suburb. “There was nobody to take care of her in Boston,” she noted. “But my entire extended family was in California, eager to babysit.”

The logistics of bringing a child on a business trip are no less complicated than the daily juggling act that working moms have already mastered. As the lines between work and home become increasingly blurred, it stands to reason that if you can talk with a client on a conference call while the playgroup meets in your living room, you can breast-feed a six-month old during a convention luncheon in Toronto. Indeed, children are coming along on so many business trips that companies like Kiddie Corp, are swamped with requests to provide care for children from tots to teens. “We provide child care services at about 150 conferences a year,” says Tempesto. “Most working parents, given a choice between attending an event where childcare is provided or one where it’s not, will opt to go to where childcare is offered. For business, offering childcare makes good sense.

Bright Horizons Child Care Centers, with over 500 centers across the country, partners with corporate clients to offer subsidized care to parents who are traveling for business. “While making the arrangements was a little bit of a hassle,” said Kathy, whose nine month old came with her on a trip to Atlanta, “having her with me was so much better than not seeing her for three days.”

If traveling for work is in your future, you might want to consider making it a family affair. Here are a few tips that can put a little more pleasure into the business of traveling with children:

Plan ahead. Notify your boss and coworkers that you plan to bring your child. Call the hotel and find out what facilities they have and request a room with a porta-crib or extra bed.

Find out what your schedule will be. Will you be tied up in meetings for the entire day? Are there evening obligations? Decide if the trip will be fun for your child or if they will be bored out of their minds.

Arrange a babysitter through the hotel. Large hotels will often have a list of qualified sitters that have their stamp of approval. Contact the local Convention and Visitors’ Bureau for a list of local babysitting and temporary childcare agencies to find a bonded sitter.

Consider bringing your own sitter. Your child might be most comfortable with someone familiar.

Never leave a child alone in a hotel –  even if they beg to be on their own.

Ask your travel agent to book you in a hotel that provides childcare. If you are attending a large conference, band together with other parents and request that childcare be offered.

Consider extending your stay to include a Saturday night. Your flights will be less expensive and you’ll have a chance to see the sights and enjoy a day or two together.

Don’t leave anything to chance. Know where you will sit on the plane, how much child care will cost and what hours it is available. Then make all of your reservations and relax. This might even be fun.