Kids visit work world

From left, Dorothy Buening, 10, Emily Hericks, 10, Maryanne Kircos, 10, John Wilson, 10, Amanda Clipper, 10, and Samantha Baker, 11, watch as raisins sink and then rise to the surface in a solution of baking soda and vinegar during a chemistry experiment at NSF International on Bring Your Child to Work Day on Thursday.

Kids visit work world

Daughters and sons sample life on the job

The fourth Thursday in April is Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work Day, an event started three years ago by the national philanthropy group Ms. Foundation for Women. It was a spin-off of Take Our Daughters To Work Day, which started in 1993.

Hundreds of companies nationwide and dozens around Ann Arbor participate in the day by inviting children to the office and setting up activities for them - both to expose the kids to what their parents do all day, and to encourage discussions about careers and achieving a life/work balance.

Fifty-eight kids descended on the NSF International World Headquarters on Thursday morning, said Jerry Bowman, senior director of corporate communications at the Ann Arbor-based nonprofit product certification company.

They toured the facility and watched demonstrations like a chemistry lab with a chemical volcano, a plastics lab where a PVC pipe exploded and a micro lab examining bacteria, including slides showing germs from a dog’s mouth, “The demonstrations are meant to get kids interested in science,” Bowman said.

Nationwide, more than 6.4 million boys and 10.1 million girls, many between the ages of 8 and 12 years old, were expected to accompany their parents to work Thursday.

-Business reporter Stefanie Murray