The Lack of Information Shared about My Work
The other night, my son was working on a school project for his medical science class. His assignment was to describe a medical occupation in detail, from the education that was required to achieve the position to the responsibilities of the job as well as the daily routine and medical diagnoses that are encountered. It was an interesting assignment and quite a comprehensive look at a particular career in the medical field. He selected my profession, pediatric intensive care medicine, and I realized just how little he knew about what I did at work.
It wasn’t that he was not interested in knowing about what I did for work. It was more that I just hadn’t shared enough about what I did with him in the past. I don’t think that this was a conscious effort on my part, but the discussion that we had made me reflect on why I hadn’t shared more about my work. What was it that prevented me from sharing more details about my work life with my kids?
Perceiving My Job as Routine and Ordinary
Patient privacy issues notwithstanding, I think that not sharing more details about my work would fall under the category of perceiving my job as routine and ordinary. Of course, I would tell my kids that I took care of very sick children in the pediatric intensive care unit, and they knew that I would spend long days at work and routinely spend the night on-call in the hospital. But, there were a lot of details left out. For as much time as I spent at work, I didn’t tell them about specific diseases or injuries, the emotional impact it had on me and the staff, my daily schedule and how I spent my time, how my job integrated with those around me, the kind of people who I worked with, procedures that I performed, and many more aspects of pediatric critical care medicine.
Sharing some of the intricacies of my work may not have been appropriate to share. Would they want to hear about a child who died? Would they want to hear about the kinds of machines that kept critically ill children alive? Would they want to hear about interactions with distraught parents of children in the intensive care unit? These would be heavy subjects to share with your own children and probably not appropriate. But, there are so many other things that we do in the pediatric intensive care unit that are not life or death situations. So, why hadn’t I shared more about my experiences with them?
It may ultimately come down to the fact that my perception of my work is routine and ordinary. That is not to say that it actually is routine and ordinary. There is nothing routine or ordinary about caring for sick kids. Kids shouldn’t be critically ill. But, as I’ve matured over the years in my profession, I see things differently. The profession to me is still very exciting and intellectually stimulating, but it is something that I have become accustomed to, and it doesn’t bear mentioning or seem like a highlight of interest to others. I’m sure that this would be a similar sentiment of parents working in any other industry and at any other job. One gets used to the daily activities of work over time and takes the experiences for granted. So, the experiences don’t seem like something special or worth sharing even though they would likely interest others.
The Value of Sharing: Connecting Work and Family Life
As parents, the work we do is special and worth sharing with our kids. We may take it for granted, but we may not realize how interested our kids are with how we spend a good portion of our days. It is not boastful or attention-seeking to share our work experiences with our children. It is educational and helps them see a part of our life that they are not able to routinely see. Sure, there are special days where parents can bring their kids to work, but those days are but a tiny fraction of time to share our work life with them. By sharing our work experiences with our children, we can bridge the gap between our professional and personal lives, offering them a deeper understanding of our work, fostering curiosity, and strengthen our family bond over time rather than just for a single school project.
What are some specific details about your profession or occupation that you think your children might find interesting or surprising?
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