Earlier this year, former White Sox ringer, Adam LaRoche, retired from baseball—and a $13 million-dollar-a-year salary—after being told his 14-year-old son could no longer be in the locker room with him. This expensive decision brought up, once again, the impossibility of a complete 50-50 work / life balance. So one has to choose, family first or is your job off limits?

Before going down that constricting rabbit hole of anxiety, there is a once a year respite that gives time-crunched moms and dads the opportunity to achieve perfect parental parity: Bring Your Kids to Work Day. Designed to be more than just a career day that shadows an adult at work, Bring Your Kids to Work Day is designed to expose kids to what their parent does during the day by showcasing the importance of education, opportunity, and responsibility to both family and career. It’s also a sort of glimpse into the future co-op program for kids to see the many possibilities of what they can, too, grow up to be. And for the parent, they have the wonderful experience of combining both work and family for at least one day a year.

This past April 28th Daughters and Sons to Work Day centered around the theme of ‘Sparking A-ha Moments,’ and encouraged kids to really take a hands-on approach to what it is their parent does for a living. And the best part is—unlike the White Sox dugout—kids were welcomed into the workplace with open arms:

• AOL hosted over 1400 kids across 20 of their offices, inspired by Arianna Huffington
• First Lady Michelle Obama opened the White House doors to children who might not have the opportunity (or parents) to follow to work
• The Olive Garden offered free dessert to kids

Even the picketers of Verizon in New Jersey taught their little ones how to stand up for their rights by joining the picket lineBut no Bring Your Kid to Work Day could be complete without a few minor snafus and switch-ups:

• NPR in Southern California experienced a minute of dead air after a “junior journalist” accidentally pressed the wrong button
• The children of employees from a Santa Ana courthouse got to decide a young Jedi’s fate in a mock trial in the State of California versus Luke Skywalker
• A 9-year-old took over her father’s news reporting and got some great answers about autism
• The Late Late Show with James Corden even got a new cameraman

Did you take your kid to work? Tweet us @DotComplicated and tell us what happened!

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