Aviation for Women is the flagship member publication of Women in Aviation International. Articles feature women who have made aviation history, professional development ideas, and current-topic articles.
Issue link: https://afwdigital.epubxp.com/i/694422
40 Aviation forWomen J U L Y / A U G U S T 2 0 1 6 I f you have more than one child, do you observe and remark often how different your children are from each other? Or maybe you have siblings and others have noted the differences between you. I have four siblings: three older brothers and a younger sister with a 12-year age difference between oldest and youngest. We have the same parents and were raised in the same house with the A PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE J O D A M A T O , C A M T H E J U G G L I N G A C T same rules and given equal opportunities to pursue our in- terests and education. We certainly resemble each other, and I think I can say that we all turned out to be pretty decent adults and parents too, but that is where the similarities seem to end. I see differences in our own two sons' personalities, and it makes my hus- band and I laugh at how unique they are and what fascinating people they are becoming. To illustrate this I took them each separately to Take Your Child Work Day at my company's headquar- ters, one year apart. In 2015, I took my oldest son, who was 10 at the time, to Take Your Child to Work Day at NBAA's D.C. headquarters. Because we live in New Jersey, we had a 14-hour day using Amtrak to get us round trip from Philadelphia to D.C. I told my son I was going to treat him like my colleague for the day, which made him stand a little taller. He reminded me of Alex P. Keaton on Family Ties. My son is 10-going-on-middle-age in his actions, demeanor, and intel- ligence. He chose his outft for the adventure—khaki paints, button down shirt, and navy blue sport coat. He put gel in his hair and spent time making it look great. When we arrived at NBAA he approached my co-workers confdently. When he met Ed Bolen, NBAA's president and CEO, he ex- tended a frm handshake that came with a smile and easy eye contact. He spoke to Ed like he was on a job interview where he was his most professional version of himself. He asked great questions about aviation and airplanes and, when he was done talking to Ed, he extended his hand again and said something like, "Well, Mr. Bolen, it was great to meet you. Thanks for your time today." That's the nicest way I have ever seen a child leave a conversation. I then assigned my son to take notes in the committee meet- ing I had to attend. He used his best cursive and, at times, raised his hand to insert his own ideas into the meeting. My colleagues' expressions went from amused to impressed, as did mine. This year I took my younger son, who was 8 at the time, to Take Your Child to Work Day. We did the same 14-hour day, and this kid was as easy a traveler as his brother. He had no problem doing the schoolwork he was missing on a 6 a.m. train to get it out of the way. In the days leading up to the trip he had a million questions about my office and what it would be like to be in a skyscraper all day. It's an 11-story building, but to an 8-year-old it may as well touch the clouds. He also chose to wear khaki pants but, more suited to his personality, he picked a long-sleeve polo shir t t hat matches his relaxed way of living. He reminded me of Mike Seaver from Grow- ing Pains—another of my favorite '80s sitcoms. My son, like Mike, is all charm and smiles and he learns best by being in the mix rather than observing it. His intelligence is based on being inquisitive and physically touching everything to learn more about it. When it was his turn to meet Ed he shook his hand and then immediately started asking a million questions about ob- jects in his offce. He wanted to know what Ed might keep in his locked fle drawers and then hilariously pulled a lock and key of his own out of his pants pocket, telling Ed that he likes to keep things safe too. He then put his hands up incredulous- ly and asked Ed how many airplane models we have at NBAA headquarters. Ed challenged him to count them all, and little Mike Seaver spent the day going around the offce foor, fash- ing his toothless and charming smile to everyone and making marks on his pocket notebook tally chart. He was also supposed to sit in a meeting with me and help take notes. He lasted about 10 minutes and then set off to ex- plore for the rest of the day with my willing co-workers. At the end of the day he checked back in with Ed, unbeknownst to me because I was still in a meeting, and he fled his offcial tally chart with the model airplane count, which Ed locked away in the fle drawer until the next time my son comes in to update it. They both had the opportunity to follow the same script, but in each case they made the day their own.