Family friendly CPD

RE: Family friendly CPD

Marie Kubiak — Wed, 09 May 2018 15:45:03 GMT

[quote user="Anthony Dennison"]

Bear in mind, this is about 20 years ago (*gulp*) so things may have changed, but I always used to see it as a child friendly event.

[/quote]

I took my 4 year old this year to the exhibition for one day this year and he was happy enough, won a giant monkey toy, got given way too many sweets and I got to chat to exhibitors and friends without fretting about external child care. Not a chance I would attend lectures with him at this stage (loud, active and impatient!) but he used to come to council meetings and conferences as a baby and never caused anyone to be disturbed/miss out by sleeping/feeding constantly.

Marie

RE: Family friendly CPD

Anthony Dennison — Wed, 09 May 2018 13:42:06 GMT

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before but I'll go again...

BSAVA congress used to be our Easter holiday as children. They had a kids club that used to be set up in the Crowne Plaza, big age ranges with loads of activities, treks and visits to various sites in Birmingham, and regular supervised access to the exhibition centre - Merial used to do amazing mint chocolate squares! I'd come home with a bag full every year.

Bear in mind, this is about 20 years ago (*gulp*) so things may have changed, but I always used to see it as a child friendly event.

RE: Family friendly CPD

Beats — Mon, 07 May 2018 19:51:08 GMT

I put "not sure".

As an employee, I can't see me taking family to a work weekend away no matter what the family provision was like.

For me, family friendly CPD is a laptop once kids are in bed (or podcasts / audio-ized text once they wake up again and I'm banished to a darkened room to sleep on a floor).

Having said that, I wasn't really one for attending these things much prior to family, so I'm probably not the target audience.

RE: Family friendly CPD

Francisco Gomez — Mon, 07 May 2018 16:29:24 GMT

from 'Great! I could bring the kids' to 'Well... there's no reason why you shouldn't take the kids with you, is there?'

RE: Family friendly CPD

Gillian Mostyn — Mon, 07 May 2018 15:00:13 GMT

Yes...as long as correct provision is there for them. A baby room with live streaming is a great idea.

I had a 4 week old baby when I attended a conference a few years ago. It was in a hotel in Chester so my mum and dad came and entertained her while I was in lectures, meeting me between times in the lobby. I was exclusively breastfeeding so needed to feed her every couple of hours, but that meant I missed some lectures. It would have been nice to just have her with me and feed on demand (obviously stepping out if she became noisy at all) but I didn't feel that was acceptable at the time. To be honest, I got some odd looks simply breastfeeding her at breaktimes.

RE: Family friendly CPD

Niall Connell — Mon, 07 May 2018 12:33:48 GMT

I thoroughly enjoyed the Vets; Stay,Go,Diversify LIVE! Event last week at the CodeNode, London and loved the innovative and unique flavour of it. I thought the provision of child care facilities was a great idea and worth considering now with respect to other CPD events. The Diddi Delegates were very well behaved and charmed everyone!

RE: Family friendly CPD

Lesley Strong — Mon, 07 May 2018 10:46:14 GMT

I wouldn't attend CPD with any chance children anywhere except a creche especially in lectures. Not everyone wants to have children at every single event going especially when some parents thinks their children have carte blanche to behave any way the like( running yelling up and down the aisle during a church wedding)

RE: Family friendly CPD

Jill Butterworth — Mon, 07 May 2018 09:49:43 GMT

It's a great idea. It's responding to changes in society and parenting, not just the feminisation of the profession.