Should You Take Your Children with You to a Conference?

Attending a conference can help give you and your business exposure.  In addition, you can learn new techniques to be more productive, and you can network.

However, as a working mother, especially of young children, you may worry about your kids if you leave them at home while you attend the conference, especially if you'll be gone 4 or 5 days.

Whether or not you bring your children depends on several factors:

1.  Is the conference child-friendly? Some conferences, especially many mom blogging conferences, are child friendly.  Some of these types of conferences encourage mothers to bring their babies with them and also have childcare available on site.

2.  Are you nursing? If you're nursing, being away from your child for four consecutive days can be nearly impossible.  In that case, you'll likely need to bring your baby.

3.  Can someone go with you? Some families treat a conference like a family vacation.  Your spouse or a grandparent can go with you and the kids.  While you attend the conference, the children can visit the local sites with the other adult.  This is the perfect arrangement if you have a nursing child but are not attending a child-friendly conference.

4.  Can you concentrate with your children with you or at home? Some women work best at conferences knowing that their children are comfortable at home being cared for by a responsible adult.  Others can focus better at the conference if they know their children are right upstairs in the hotel being cared for by a family member only a few minutes away.

5.  Can you afford to take the kids? If you're driving to the conference, this might not be much of an issue.  However, if you need to fly, paying for tickets for your children can add up quickly.

Remember, as your children get older, deciding whether to take them to a conference will likely be less of an issue as they become more self-sufficient.  However, while your children are young, you may want to bring them along.  

Ultimately, as a WAHM, you're able to choose what works best for you.

Do you bring your children to conferences with you?  If so, were you still able to be productive?