A Former Teacher's Rant...

Today is National Take Your Son/Daughter to Work Day. I don't know when this tradition started, but it was certainly not in place when I was a child. I think in theory it's a great concept. Exposing kids to different careers and getting a sense of what a real day at work is like is always going to be beneficial.
That being said, ever since I was a teacher, I often wondered why this day was held in April. I taught 5th graders and usually about 1/2 the students would not come to school on this day. So, 50% of the students missed a day of school and maybe had an out of school learning experience but the other 50% who did come often had a "wasted" day of "fillers". I tried to enrich their lessons with fun activities that would just support something we'd already learned. We couldn't move onto new concepts with 1/2 the class absent. Also, I didn't want the kids who came to school that day to feel punished for doing so...
Schools are off approximately 3 months a year. Why can't parents take their kids to work during June, July or August?!?!?!