Ooh, baby, baby, it�s a wild world.
7:10 p.m.
Herr Doktor Professor is on sabbatical this term, so the group is being conducted by a former member, a Bushop�s grad who went on to do some sort of advanced study (I don�t think it was a masters, maybe a performance diploma) at my old alma mater and who was also the director of the chapel choir when she was here (when it was a student position, ahem). Apart from the fact that she talks a wee bit too much, she�s actually quite competent and I�m looking forward to the term. She�s programmed large chunks of Haydn�s Creation and several other shorter works, including some spirituals (the concert is being filled out with three numbers by the chapel choir, which is no longer conducted by a student [ahem], but by a certain professor�s wife who doesn�t actually hold an official position here but sure seems to be around an awful lot). Herr Doktor Professor will be back for the spring show, which is more his speed anyway.
This now brings me to the matter of bringing a baby into an environment where a baby does not belong. Our newest prof and his wife (see above) had their first child last April (or maybe it was May), a healthy boy whom they bring with them to work every day. Excuse me, but when my husband was a full-time professor and I was a new mother, I did not bring the squawling brat to the office to have my husband look after (or a student, there don�t seem to be any shortage of them) while I had rehearsals or taught students or did whatever. No, I stayed home with my infant so that said child could be in a consistent environment away from excessive infectious agents and not disturb others with its incessant crying. When I did start teaching, we worked our schedules out so that someone could always be home with the fruit of our loins, not transporting it to and from and subjecting it to the touch of many unwashed hands, or our colleagues to the crying that so often accompanies hunger, dirty diapers and inexpressible sadness.
Well the other day I came into the office and I heard this baby crying. It has been many years since my breasts produced milk, but that �letting down� feeling is very hard to forget. He had a wet diaper, which was remedied, but he was inconsolable. A student was looking after him while his daddy taught a class and his mommy was off somewhere, and even through the closed office door the sound was unnerving. The two other profs were on edge (how do you work when there�s a baby crying next door?) and the student at the computer had a wild look in her eyes. The workplace is no place for a baby.
from harri3tspy :
I would agree by and large, but I must respectfully quibble: The right workplace may be the right place for the right baby. I worked part time at my previous place of employment when AJ was a baby and he came with me. But the job allowed me to give him a fair amount of attention (I was cataloguing the music library for them and making recommendations on what to purchase, what to give to the recently outsted conductor, etc.). AJ was also an incredibly quiet and happy baby pretty much all the time. He was, I�m sure, a bit distracting -- he had a lot of visitors. But I also was only there a few hours a week. And they had pretty much begged me to do the job and begged me to bring AJ as well, so everyone was on board. It was nice for me to get out and earn a little money. And I think it was nice for AJ to see so many different people so often. I sometimes wonder if this is why he is such a social creature -- he certainly didn�t get that from his parents!
from zitagsd :
I would agree...the workplace can be a place for a baby...depending. I have NO problem with many hands and germs flying around. I never have. I let my kids run around in the winter as naked as they wanted... I figure if they are cold, they will come put stuff on...and ptl (praise the lord ...hee hee) I can�t say that they were ever very sick. I think the more germs they get exposed to, the better their resistance and immunity becomes. HOWEVER...NO, a wailing baby has no place in an instutution where it will bother people, and where the parents have to get �volunteers�...to look after it. This gives me the impression of those people who have �THE BEST, SMARTEST, MOST BEAUTIFUL BABIES� and think that every other person in the world should be constantly oohing and aahing over it. Puhleeze...it makes me want to puke!!! Nobody wants to hear or smell babies in the workplace. I think some �anonymous� notes put in their mailbox are called for, at the very least. Someone should really tell them to take the kid home. Or they can suggest a �day-care� center ....
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