National Take Your Child to Work Day 2025 happens on April 24th. This day, now sponsored by Junior Achievement and Staples, is an opportunity for parents around the country to bring their children to work to see what they do, give them an idea of what it’s like to spend the whole day at the workplace, and inspire them to think about their future, the type of life they want to lead, and what kind of job or calling can help them reach their goals.
Although the day now includes boys and girls, it started in the early 1990s as a day to shine a light on women in the workplace.
In 1992, women won more seats in the U.S. Congress than ever before. Citizens elected and sent four women to the Senate and twenty-four women to the House of Representatives. It was a historic moment in women’s history, and planted an idea in the mind of noted feminist, women’s rights advocate, and activist Marie C. Wilson, who envisioned and launched National Bring Our Daughters to Work Day in 1993.
Here’s how Wilson described her original goals for National Bring Our Daughters to Work Day:
“Originally, we started it to remind adult women of what dreams they had.”
While the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1972 began leveling the playing field for women in U.S. culture, society, and the workplace, inequities persisted: learn more in our article on Women’s History Month. The easiest way to understand the situation, in terms of work, is by analyzing the pay gap between women and men. Currently, women earn 84 cents for every dollar a man earns, on average – a pay gap of 16 percent. To learn more, please consult the following:
- Highlights of Women’s Earnings in 2017 published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
- Forecasting Pay Equity: Women Are Expected to Wait Over 50 Years to Reach Parity with Men published by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research
- The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap published by The American Association of University Women
- Womansplaining the Pay Gap published by The New York Times
But that’s enough history. In 2003, the day became National “Bring Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day.” In 2022, the organizers approached the organization Junior Achievement (JA), which took over the day in 2024 and renamed it Take a Child to Work Day and Beyond.
The New Vision for Take Your Child to Work Day
Tim Greinert, President of Junior Achievement USA, describes the evolution of the day:
“Since its launch in 1993 as Take Your Daughter to Work Day, Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day forged an undeniable legacy of introducing millions of young people to what it means to work. We are honored to carry that legacy forward and, through our partnership with Staples, will make the necessary investments to ensure future generations have the experience of seeing the world of work up close.”
For 2025, JA and Staples chose the following theme:
“For A New Generation”
Here’s what For a New Generation means to the organizers:
- It’s more than a slogan: an invitation to innovation, adaptability, and learning.
- It means meeting children meet where they are and creating experiences that make their future – and work – look fun, exciting, and attainable.
- It means giving children a chance to learn more about work in general, and consider careers they may never have before.
- The theme imagines a world where all children have equal opportunity to realize their full potential.
- It’s not just one day: it’s a movement to create change in the way we think about work, our future, and the future of work
With the addition of these big -name sponsors, and participation from entities such as the U.S. Department of Defense / The Pentagon – #DODKIDSDAY25 – the flavor of the day moves from a day for kids to see what a day at work is like to a day designed to inspire kids to get excited about their future in the workplace. Some employers plan to use it as a day to get kids interested in joining their talent funnel, while others will use it as a day of connection and community for employees, employers, and children.
How to Participate in National Take Your Child to Work Day 2025
The most effective way to participate is to think and plan ahead. April 24th this year falls on a Thursday, so the first thing to do is contact your child’s school and let them know you and your kids are planning to participate in National Take Your Child to Work Day 2025.
Next, we suggest starting the day early. Let your kids get up when you get up and mirror you as you go through your morning routine. They already know about morning routines, because they have one for school. On April 24th, they can get an idea of what a morning routine looks and feels like in preparation for work, instead of school.
You can take this part of the day further if you like. They can help you get your lunch together, if you bring one, plan your commute, get your briefcase or toolbox together, and participate in whatever you do during your morning pre-work routine that’s different than their morning before school routine.
Once you get to work, you have options. We created the following list using this resource, and we think the five suggestions are a great way to organize the day and ensure you, your child/children, and your coworkers have an amazing day.
Five Ways to Participate in Take Your Child to Work Day 2025
- Organize fun activities. Consider an office scavenger hunt, or have them interview your coworkers – see two lists of suggested questions below.
- Share your work. Show your child what you spend your day doing. If you’re a spreadsheet genius, show them those rows and columns. If you work with your hands, show them your carpentry, stonework, or whatever skills you apply each and every day. Share your pride, and it will rub off on them.
- Get them involved. After a heads up to your employer and coworkers, you can set them up with tasks appropriate to their age, interests, and maturity level. Safety first, of course. They can attend a meeting, help fetch and carry, organize files, or help you work on an upcoming presentation.
- Promote curiosity. Encourage them to ask questions about anything and everything that interests them. Be strategic, too. Think of coworkers who are great with kids, and set up a situation where they can share their enthusiasm and positivity about work, working, and the job they do. When kids see adults in action, loving what they do, it shows them that adulting – despite all the kvetching we do about it
- Talk about it back home. When you get settled in – or maybe on the drive/commute home – ask them about their experience. If they’re talkative, let them talk. If they’re not much a free information child, no problem. Ask specific questions, such as What was your high point? Low Point? Most surprising thing? Least surprising thing? What was boring? What was exciting? Who made you laugh? Why? Did any jobs appeal to you that you never considered? Start with questions like those, follow their lead, and see where the conversation goes.
Follow those suggestions – and don’t forget snacks – and we think you can make this a great day for everyone. You, your child/children, and your coworkers. You get to prove to your kid that you actually exist outside of your role as a parent. And you get to prove to your coworkers that the child/children you rave about all the time is/are actually as amazing you say they are.
Take Your Child to Work Day is a good thing all around, and you can make it better by taking the steps to plan, organize, and curate the experience for the benefit of your child and coworkers.
We’ll close this article with two lists of questions you can use to make the day more interesting.
The Curious Kid: Set Them Up to Learn
Whether your child needs the help talking to adults or not, setting them with these two lists can help make the day better. They can use these questions or come up with their own. Remember: these are for your colleagues and coworkers, not you. Your child can use them as a jumping off point for having interesting and informative conversations, or they can get out the smartphone, turn on the video or voice recorder, and pretend to be a journalist – whatever works for them is what will work best.
This first list is designed to help an interested child learn more about the work your coworkers do. It’s focused more on the job than on the person.
Conversation Starters
- What’s your job title?
- What do you spend your day doing, specifically?
- What do you love about your work?
- What would you change about your work?
- Why did you pursue this job/career?
- Was it hard to get where you are now?
- Did you have to go to college or graduate school?
- Did you need other training aside from college/graduate school?
- Was all the school and training worth it?
- What one skill is the most important for your job?
- Did you learn that at school, in training, or on the job?
- Do you feel like your work matters? Why or why not?
- Do you have a lot of responsibility? Do you like it?
- What was your best day ever on this job so far?
- If I wanted to do your job, what’s the one piece of advice you’d give me?
This next list is more about the person that about the job. When kids see adults, they often forget that every single adult was exactly their age once. Head full wonder, mind full of questions, eyes eager to take in the world, ears eager to hear and learn new things. This list can help give kids perspective, and the best thing about it is that the more people they talk to, the more points of view and more perspective they get – all of which can help them envision the kind of future they want for themselves.
When You Were My Age
- What subject in school did you like the most?
- What subject were you best at?
- How did you spend your free time?
- Were you really good at any one specific thing?
- Do you still do that?
- Did you know what career you wanted?
- And did you pursue that? If not, why not?
- Did your parents want you to do anything in particular? Doctor? Lawyer?
- Did you do what your parents wanted?
- Who influenced the way you thought about possible careers?
- Did you do any sports?
- Were you a good student?
- What were your main hobbies?
- What would my age you think or say if they could meet your age you?
- If you could go back to my age for one day, how would you spend that day?
