Today, Research Advisor was telling me about her service on a committee for one of the professional societies to which we belong. The committee is charged with selecting future locations for the society's annual national meeting. We were discussing the attributes of several cities, like accessibility, costs, hotel room availability, etc. One important factor is availability of particular dates. This meeting is usually in the beginning of November, but can be as early as mid-October or late as mid-November. Advisor said that many on the committee favor the last week in October. I frowned and she said, "yeah I know. right at Halloween. When my kids were little I always hated being away at Halloween, so I wouldn't go to this meeting in those years." I asked if the other members of the committee are men.
They are.
4 comments:
Aw, cute! I personally don't like Halloween....perhaps this is due to many years of my dad's absence at Halloween? He was usually at some international conference or other (Dad is a rather famous prof at a top-five school for his field.)
I have a question. Or maybe it's a theory. My totally unscientific theory based on only the people I know, is that guys today, the ones who are becoming dads now or in the next 10 years or so, are MUCH more involved in their kids lives than the young dads of even 10 years ago. Do you think this is true? Do you see this panning out among your scientist friends? Because if it is true, then I think it will be a huge step for family/work balance for everyone. Because if all the men don't want to miss Halloween either, the conference just won't be at Halloween.
unbalanced, I think your comment supports my point. And dad is a famous scientist? No pressure for you, huh?
arduous, I agree, at least in the case of educated/economically successful men who plan when to have their children (usually later in life) and have wives who are also educated and expect them to be involved. That's a rather broad and maybe insensative generalization on my part, but whatev.
I hope that the increased involvement of current dads will amplify as time goes on, i.e. the children of today's involved dads will be even more involved themselves.
I left the meeting you describe a day early this year, largely so that Minnow could be home for her first halloween. Of course, she slept through it, but still...
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