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My LO is too young, but is it weird that I didn't think positively or negatively about my parents' work when I was growing up? But maybe because it was a different time when most parents weren't expected to play with their kids so much?

Not sure...when I was 6-12 years old, my parents both worked full time (as a pilot and a teacher) AND owned a fairly large daycare, so we kids were at the daycare before and after school either in a class or helping once we got older (I had to clean daycare bathrooms after school every single day from age 8 and up).

I never resented it though! I was always super excited when Dad came home though, since he would be gone three days, back three days.

My daughter wants to work, so I think we paint a positive picture of it for her. She likes to have a job, sometimes her job is to play, sometimes she's a writer like me, sometimes she's a waitress. She likes to pretend to have many jobs.

My mom sometimes had to work two jobs and was really tired when she did. But I never had a negative image of work, even when she was gone a lot--I knew that was our circumstances.

We've taken our son to our office building for an afterwork kids event, he's 4 and he gets that we are working when we all go about our day. I tell him I have friends there, I eat lunch there, just like he does at school and I think he feels comfortable with it.

We try not to bring work home, but sometimes it's not possible to avoid it and one of us is in charge of keeping our son out of the way because he does tend to talk loudly and people hear him on conference calls!

I knew my dad had to work as I kid, I remember knowing from very young that is how we got money to do things.

I had a fairly positive view of work from my dad. He worked for the same railway company from the time he left university till the time he retired (a year and a half ago). He loved his job. He never complained (at least not in front of us), and he would tell us stories about the projects he was working on. I hope I can provide the same positive outlook to my LO as she grows up.

ETA: I think it's one of those things that you don't realize/recognize till later in life and you're working yourself. I really appreciate his attitude.