I hope I am speaking for the pediatricians when I take the strong position
that babies are always welcome at conferences, whether they be the
Physicians' Seminar jointly sponsored by LLLI and the American Academy of
Pediatrics, regular medical meetings or grand rounds at the hospital.  Yes,
there is need to be discreet so as not to disrupt the conference and
distract the speaker, but babies are and should be welcome.
     I extended this same invitation to my faculty on many occasions when I
was chair of the department and also suggested that it was good for the
older children, as well, to be taken to work with mother and/or father to
share in their professional/business life.  My son and daughter have
practiced this with their own children.  I think it is a wonderful experience
for the children and also for the parents and their colleagues.  It also often
brings moments of humor to otherwise drab occasions.  Such a moment occurred
recently when our daughter, a surgeon, brought grandson Benjamin, age 4, to
surgical grand rounds at a very major medical center because of a hiatus in
the usual child care arrangements.  While the staff milled about getting
coffee, Benjamin quietly pulled a chair up to the podium, deftly switched on
the microphone and announced: "Ladies and Gentlemen, you can have anything
you want."  We will never find out what else he would have proclaimed from
his newly discovered platform, because his mother flew across the room to
remove him from his new toy.  Later in that same grand rounds, as a
particularly gory surgical slide went on the screen, he exclaimed loudly:
"gross".  That essentially terminated his grand rounds experience for that
day.  I am sure he will be back, however, after he learns how to whisper.
     My children, now very grown, often remind me of a time in their youth,
when they were about 8 and 10 years old, and I took them with me a to  a
regional LLLI meeting in the New York area where I was a speaker.  I had
baby sitting duties that day because my wife was in school.  What they
recall was my opening line: "I often lecture about babies, but
I rarely have the opportunity to lecture to babies."  I enjoy lecturing to
babies and have done so many, many times since.
     My final comment on babies/children at conferences is to tell you that
the Chicago Pediatric Society will be celebrating its 100th anniversary this
May with a special dinner.  We have invited all of our members to bring
their children to this event, which is being held at the Brookfield Zoo, not
just because it is at the zoo, but because we realized that hard working
pediatricians, both men and women, are often reluctant to be away from their
children on weekends, not having been able to spend enough time with them
during the week, and would welcome a family celebration.  It seems very
appropriate to all of us to have children present at a pediatric party.  I
am sure this will be a dinner we will all remember and that will set a
precedent for the next 100 years of the society.
                                   Larry Gartner
Lawrence M. Gartner, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics and Obstetrics/Gynecology
The University of Chicago
[log in to unmask]
[log in to unmask]