After years of waiting, today was to be the day Kristen Krebs’ youngest daughter, 9-year-old Reagan, would at last attend CSL Behring’s Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work event.
“My older twin daughters had attended and my youngest has been jealous each time,” Krebs said of Reagan, who’s in third grade. “She had been looking forward to finally being old enough to participate this year and is disappointed that it won’t be happening.”
At CSL Behring, the annual U.S. tradition has been an opportunity to promote STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education and purposeful careers working to help patients and advance public health. Last year at the global headquarters in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, more than 100 children participated, learning about rare diseases and the patients who rely on the company’s medicines.
This year, Krebs, a senior director of Talent Development, is among the many parents adjusting to the new normal of working at home while overseeing their children’s schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of stay-at-home orders in countries around the globe, many children are now getting to see their parents’ work up close.
“It is because of programs like Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work that our kids understand why it’s important that mom and dad work from home right now,” said Margaret Mary Conger, a Senior Patient Engagement Associate, whose husband, Kelly, also works at CSL Behring. The couple has three children: Griffin, age 15, Lily, age 14, and Charlie, age 9.
“They understand why my office door may be closed throughout the day and why we need them to take more ownership of their schoolwork,” Conger said. “They respect what we do and who we work for.”
Michael Seiders, a Director of Public Policy at CSL Behring, and his wife Gabriela, an eighth grade social studies teacher, are also learning to juggle. They’re both working at home while 12-year-old Jameson is attending Zoom calls of his own for school.
“My wife’s students love it when our son or dog, Deacon, appears in her classroom videos,” Seiders said. “The students love the interactions.”
CSL Behring colleagues say they don’t mind the occasional pet or child walking in on a meeting. Moira Koch, a Senior Manager of Competitive Intelligence, even participated in a “kids at lunchtime” meeting recently with other working moms.
“It makes my work life more real and less abstract for my kids,” said Koch, whose daughter, Lucy, is 10 and son, August, is 7. “My daughter is really interested in STEM and can see that there’s a world of opportunity for women in the sciences.”
For suggestions on how to spend this year’s Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work at home, visit here.
