I am another who traveled bringing my family with me - all 3 babies over the years - because,
as Kathleen says, the logistics, maintaining supply (it's a feedback loop), and time to pump
vs. nurse is high. Incidentally, avoiding painful medical conditions (mastitis for instance) is
another strong reason to avoid long absences; for those who are nursing, this is basically
medical necessity.
Until my oldest was school-aged, that meant bringing the whole family
because it is really really hard to find someone trustworthy and local to foreign countries to take
care of a baby/toddler for 14-16 hours a day.
As for the companion program, how many who are discussing it have brought someone along
to an IETF? It is a matter of convenience to make it easier for companions to meet each other
and make plans to do stuff. To attend the companion's reception costs money for that companion.
Mailing lists are not expensive. I view it as an easy courtesy.
There are certainly circumstances where an IETFer needs to bring others, whether adult or chlid,
so that the IETFer can get things done.
Regards,
Alia
On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 2:56 PM, Kathleen Moriarty <kathleen.moriarty.ietf@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Tue, May 24, 2016 at 2:14 PM, Yoav Nir <ynir.ietf@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On 24 May 2016, at 8:44 PM, Adam Roach <adam@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> I do not doubt that it sucks to be a gay or bisexual male living in
> Singapore. Spending a week there for work should be fine.
>
>
> I'll again agree with Jari's formulation, adding emphasis to the final three
> cited words: "I think it is of course necessary to consider things that
> affect the ability to enter, safety (possibly including usual human
> activities that people do outside meetings anyway, families travelling
> along)”.
>
>
> Then I guess where I disagree with both you and Melinda is that I don’t
> think the ability to bring families along should be an important
> consideration. This may be because I have never traveled to work with
> family, nor do I consider them coming as anything other than a vacation (for
> them - I would be stuck in meetings). I am somewhat uncomfortable with idea
> of a companion program, but that’s a subject for a different thread.
>
> Yes, there are exceptional cases such as when people need to travel with
> companions due to disability. Traveling with family beyond that is a choice.
Breastfeeding is another instance where brining your family is
important. 8 days is just too long to be away from a baby
breastfeeding. It's a lot of milk to pump and send back or have
stocked up in advance. There are some instances where having a
support person and child are essential to some attendees being able to
participate. I've said this already and Ted made this argument
already. There may be other situations, I don't know as I haven't run
into them yet.
Kathleen
--
> Assuming the worst about Singapore, it’s not fair that I have that choice,
> while Ted may feel that he does not. But if we can conclude that our
> participants themselves face no risk of harm or discrimination, I don’t
> think that should be a consideration.
>
> Yoav
>
Best regards,
Kathleen