Reply to Will I regret missing my child's first day of kindergarten for a work trip? wwyd?

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Reply to "Will I regret missing my child's first day of kindergarten for a work trip? wwyd?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I didn't get the memo. Is this the expectation now? That every parent has to be present for every arbitrary event. First day of school?  Yes. But is the first day of every school year important? Since the kid isn't changing schools it seem the equivalent of starting 2nd grade. I think it can be missed.

And how can everyone on here just dismiss the networking event as not important. They don't know her profession, her situation, the nature of this conference, what organization this is or really anything. Plus the OP said that she thought it was important. How can all the people on here know better than the OP about her own situation. [/quote]

You're never going to be able to convince me that one afternoon of networking can make or break your career. And that mindset generally will lead to missing a lot of moments.

The question essentially comes down to, 'am I ok missing out on what will probably be a minor work opportunity or am I ok missing out on what will probably be a minor parenting moment?'

In this case I'd say the parenting moment is medium/small sized and the career moment is small sized so I'd pick kid. If it was some giant presentation OP had been working towards her whole career I'd say pick career. If it was an interview for a new position that was going to get her family a significant raise, then pick the interview. But if you generally prioritize 5 hours of networking over an important moment with your kid then I think you're probably the kind of parent that will end up with a kid that feels like their second fiddle.

Both your career and your relationship with your kid are a culmination of 1000 little decisions you made to show up for one or the other, and sometimes you have to choose. This is why its a myth that you can have it all. IMO this seems like an easy version of that choice, the work gain small, the kid gain big. [/quote]

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