带孩子出差合适吗

 Many readers were surprised when President Obama took his wife, kids and mother-in-law along on his recent trip to Russia, Italy and Ghana, based on the e-mail I'm still receiving. Some thought it was too expensive, others too dangerous.

It seems strange these days for anyone to take their kids along on business trips. A hot trend in the revved-up economy of the past, combining business travel with family or leisure pursuits has fallen sharply. 'The mood now is all business,' says Peter Yesawich, chairman of Ypartnership, Orlando, Fla., a travel-industry marketing 1 services firm.
Some 70% of business travelers in 2000 combined leisure pursuits with business travel, says the Ypartnership/Yankelovich National Business Travel Monitor, a biannual 2 poll. Many took along their spouses 3, their children or both, sparking a boom in child-care services at hotel chains. But only 49% of those polled this year say they combine business trips with leisure, and fewer are taking spouses or kids, Mr. Yesawich says. ''Road warrior 4' is a very appropriate expression' for the folks populating airline travel lounges these days, he says.
Seeing exotic locales with Mom or Dad can be an adventure, as we discussed last week. One Chicago executive wrote here that whenever she is overseas for more than a week, she takes her three-year-old daughter. This preschooler is 'an absolute trooper' already comfortable with foreign languages and foods, the executive writes.
But others say the stress of making sure children get the proper care outweighs 5 the benefits. One author says she regretted bringing her one-year-old son on a speaking tour. Although a publicist offered to care for the child, the woman turned out to be a '20-something vision in head-to-toe Prada' ill-suited to tend 'my infant with mashed 6 apricot splattered all down his front, giving off a whiff of laden 7 diaper,' the author said. Her speeches were punctuated 8 by her son's high-pitched crying as the publicist tried to calm him.
International travel poses other hurdles 9 for kids. Jet lag can be brutal 10 to a child who feels the effects but doesn't understand why. As much as I hated to split with my kids, I always left them home when traveling on business either in the U.S. or overseas. I couldn't imagine managing their care or asking them to adapt to my long hours and intense work schedules.
The Obamas, of course, had plenty of help along, including Malia and Sasha's grandmother Marian Robinson. And it isn't particularly unusual for presidents to take their children overseas, says Doug Wead, a presidential historian and author of two books on presidential families, who commented on the topic in my recent 'Work & Family Mailbox' column. He cites other examples, including Franklin Roosevelt and his daughter Anna, who accompanied him to Yalta in 1945 to meet with Churchill and Stalin.
Readers, do you ever take your children on business trips? How about overseas business travel? If you do, how has it worked out for you? Were your kids wowed by new wonders or cranky with jet lag?
美国总统奥巴马不久前出访俄罗斯、意大利和加纳时，妻儿和岳母也一同随行。从我收到的电子邮件来看，许多读者都对这种情况感到惊讶。有人认为这样花费太高，还有人认为太过危险了。
现在这个时候，任何人在商务旅行时带上孩子似乎都显得很奇怪。过去经济飞速发展的时代，将商务旅行与家庭旅行或休闲活动结合起来曾经是一大热潮，然而现在这种做法急剧减少。位于佛罗里达州奥兰多的旅游业营销服务公司Ypartnership的董事长叶萨维克(Peter Yesawich)说，现在流行的是纯商务旅行。
美国总统奥巴马与夫人及两个女儿一起，在工作人员的陪同下走向空军一号。他们将前往俄罗斯、意大利和加纳。一年两次的Ypartnership/Yankelovich全国商务旅行大调查显示，2000年时，大约70%的商务旅行者会将商务旅行与休闲活动结合起来。许多人带拖家带口地去旅行，刺激了连锁酒店的儿童看护服务热。但叶萨维克说，今年接受调查的人中，只有49%的人说他们将商务旅行与休闲活动结合起来，带配偶或孩子前往的比例就更少了。他说，对于如今充塞各家航空公司旅行休息室的人们来说，“旅途战士”是非常恰如其分的说法。
正如我们上周所讨论的那样，跟着父母一起见识异国他乡会很有意思。芝加哥的一位高管说，只要她出国超过一周，就会带着3岁的女儿一起去。她写道，还没上学的女儿是不折不扣的“空降兵”，已经能够自如地适应外国语言和食物了。
但另外一些人说，确保孩子得到合适照顾的压力超过了带孩子一起旅行的好处。一位作者说，她很后悔去做巡回演讲时带着一岁的儿子。她说，虽然一个推广人员提出帮忙照顾孩子，但结果那姑娘才20来岁，全身名牌，根本不适合照顾幼儿，要知道，他胸前到处都是压碎的杏肉，尿布也被他尿得沉甸甸的，发出一股子味儿。她的演讲不时被儿子的高声哭闹打断，而那个推广人员则要拼命安抚他。
出国旅行也给孩子们造成了别的不适。对于孩子来说，时差会非常难受，他们能感觉到时差的影响，但不明白这是为什么。虽然我极度不愿跟孩子们分离，但当我在美国或是海外出差时，我总是将他们留在家里。我无法想像拼命想办法照顾他们，或是让他们适应我时间长、强度大的工作日程。
当然了，奥巴马夫妇在旅途中会得到诸多帮助，包括玛丽亚(Malia)和萨莎(Sasha)的外祖母玛丽安?罗宾逊(Marian Robinson)。研究总统家庭的历史学家、就此着有两本书的道格?韦德(Doug Wead)最近对我“工作?家信箱”( Work & Family Mailbox)这个主题发表评论时说，总统带着孩子出访也并不是十分鲜见。他援引了其他一些例子，包括罗斯福总统(Franklin Roosevelt)和他女儿安娜(Anna)，1945年，安娜曾陪同罗斯福赴雅尔塔，会晤丘吉尔(Churchill)和斯大林(Stalin)。
读者们，你们在商务旅行时有没有带着孩子一起？出国商务旅行呢？如果有过这种情况，那你进行得怎么样？你的孩子是为新鲜事物啧啧称奇，还是因时差而烦躁不已？