return to work gift
What to give a parent coming back from leave
The first week back is where programs quietly fail. What lands, and what reads as a box being ticked.
Draft — Jessica
We’re here for one goal: to build deeper connections between working parents, their children, and their employers. Join us and help spread the love!
Our three beautiful board books about work, connection, and love are perfect gifts for working parents. Page by page, in bright, imaginative illustrations, children discover all the similarities between their parents’ days and their own.
Show Working Parents They Belong.
Stories, songs, dancing, and a book to take home—big fun for little ones ages 0–7!
Make it YOUR story! Kids bring the pages to life with playful stickers featuring your logo and icons.
Inspiring conversations that make working parents feel seen, supported, and celebrated.
Families, desks, hospital night shifts, and a lot of bedtimes.
“My hope is to make one more goodbye a little easier, one more bedtime a little richer, and one more child proud of the work their parent does.”
Together with her favorite Creative Directors—her husband and three sons—Jossy created Mommy Goes to Work® and Daddy Goes to Work.
Jossy is the founder of Dots Global, an innovation builder, and currently serves as a Board Member and Entrepreneurship Committee Chair of the MIT Sloan Boston Alumni Association.
When she’s not busy creating the change she hopes to see in the world, Jossy treasures the little moments with her family in Boston and Taipei.
Hearing from readers always makes Jossy smile. Come say hello on LinkedIn.
Gifting ideas, return-to-work moments, and simple ways to make your workplace more family-friendly. Straight to your inbox, a few times a year.
From morning goodbyes to bedtime snuggles, we bring the worlds of work and home a little closer, starting with offices and hospitals, one little book at a time.
Every spread gives little ones a peek into what we do after drop-off—and how our days are surprisingly alike!
“Together or apart, I hold you in my heart, wherever we are.”
Every book ends with a loving reminder: Mommy and Daddy always come back, and their love never leaves.
It's 8:57 p.m. You're exhausted. Your little one picks the LONGEST book on the shelf.
Sound familiar?
We get it. Our books are short and sweet—perfect for bedtime, mornings, potty breaks, and all those little moments in between.
As an MIT-trained design practitioner, our author, Jossy, couldn't just write a story. Of course, she had to test it! (And test it. And test it some more...)
From storylines and illustrations to how the books feel in little (and big!) hands, we've tested and refined every detail with feedback from hundreds of people.
The fun doesn't stop at the last page! Sing and dance along to our “Mommy Goes to Work” song, making everyday goodbyes a little sweeter.
Aunties, uncles, grandparents, colleagues, employers, and daycare teachers are some of our biggest champions!
Whether you're a working parent or cheering one on, give a little book filled with big love—a gift to be read, sung, and treasured together.
Get Your Books
Moms and their little ones will want to bring it home!
Dads and their families will want a book, too!
Families love to meet Mr. Sunshine, then take a ray of sunshine and dance to the beloved Mommy Goes to Work song!
Make it YOUR story! Kids bring the pages to life with playful stickers featuring your logo and icons.
Reusable stickers that peel off and stick on again, so little ones can rearrange the office every time they read.
Minimum order quantity 100 sheets for $1,500 (including IP licensing, design, approval, printing, shipping fees)
add $15 / sheet
Many Bring Your Child to Work Day efforts are for older children. Our free guide shows you how to host a joyful event for the little ones — age 0–7 — and their parents.
We'll send it in early November. Your email only gets the guide and an occasional note from Jossy.
We'll send out the free guide in early November.
What exactly happens during the experience?
Through an interactive read-aloud, discover what Mommy and Daddy do all day when they go to work!
Dance with Mr. Sunshine to the Mommy Goes to Work song—and become one of his Rays of Sunshine!
Meet Jossy, the creator behind Mommy Goes to Work® and Daddy Goes to Work.
Bring home a book to keep the story—and the conversation—going long after the event ends.
Caregivers ERG · SimpliSafeWith everything you need to lead the experience confidently, your team gets to shine—no flights, travel, or onsite visit from us required!
starting $250
starting $1,500 (100 sheets)
Make it YOUR story! Kids bring the pages to life with playful custom stickers featuring your company’s logo and icons. We design. You approve. Stickers are created to fit beautifully into both Mommy’s and Daddy’s office scenes.
Reusable stickers that peel off and stick on again, so little ones can rearrange the office every time they read.
From inspiring talks and fireside chats to interactive workshops, author Jossy loves creating experiences that celebrate working parents—the joys, the juggling, and yes, even the guilt!
Together with your HR, People, or Employee Resource Group (ERG) teams, we'll create something meaningful that leaves parents feeling seen, supported, and empowered.
In person or virtual. Always tailored to your team.
Yes! Our custom package can include sticker sheets with your logo and icons, so kids can make the workplace scenes feel like their parent’s own world.
Each 30-minute round brings the books to life through storytelling, music, movement, and playful interaction. Kids discover what Mommy and Daddy do at work—and dance with Mr. Sunshine along the way.
The sweet spot is ages 0–7, but older siblings are always welcome to join the fun.
Each round is about 30 minutes and can be repeated throughout the day to welcome more families. Capacity depends on your space and package.
As little or as much as you’d like! Self-guided packages include a step-by-step guide and 1-on-1 virtual training, while our full experience lets us take the lead.
Yes! With Belonging Sessions, Jossy and our early-childhood education team come onsite and lead the full experience.
The earlier, the better—especially for custom or hosted experiences. Timing depends on your date, location, and customization needs.
Yes. Card is the fast route for a small order; larger orders usually run on a PO. Both end in the same confirmation.
Most Bring Your Child to Work Day programs are built for older, school-age kids—so the youngest children often miss out on something made just for them.
This free guide helps workplace teams add a simple, meaningful experience for kids from babies to seven year olds.
Ready to run it? Every package comes with books, a step-by-step facilitation guide, and virtual facilitator training.
We'll send out the free guide in early November.
Storybooks for working parents, and a belonging program companies run for the working parents on their team.
We'll email you our free Bring Your Child to Work Day guide right away.
Through an interactive read-aloud, discover what Mommy and Daddy do all day when they go to work!
Dance with Mr. Sunshine to the Mommy Goes to Work song—and become one of his Rays of Sunshine!
Meet Jossy, the creator behind Mommy Goes to Work® and Daddy Goes to Work.
Bring home a book to keep the story—and the conversation—going long after the event ends.
Six to eight posts, one search question each. Jessica drafts, Kelly places the keywords, Jossy brings the real accounts.
The first week back is where programs quietly fail. What lands, and what reads as a box being ticked.
Most guides assume a ten year old. A run of day that works for toddlers.
What one company sends, when, and what the parents said afterwards.
Every company sends a onesie. Almost none send something the older child can hold.
The policy conversation that keeps missing the drop-off.
An educator's view on why the parallel structure works on a Monday morning.
Titles and keywords are set. Bodies aren't written, and two of them need Jossy's accounts of Toast and the savings bank before they can be drafted. Posts go live together in September so the Q4 season has something to find.
The return is the risk. Leave gets planned to the day — coverage, handover, an out-of-office. Then a parent walks back in on a Monday and the plan is over, exactly when the hard part starts.
Before the standup, before the inbox, there's a goodbye at a nursery door. That's the moment a parent decides whether this arrangement is survivable, and no benefit on the intranet touches it.
Structure and keyword placement are the point of this view. The writing is Jessica's in August, and this post needs one real account from a company — Toast is the closest.
A gift can't fix childcare. What it can do is tell a parent that the people they work for pictured their family, not their coverage. That's a small thing that changes how a Monday feels.
Something that arrives at the house, not the desk. Something the child can hold, so the story of where a parent goes all day gets told by someone other than the parent. And something that says the company's name in their living room, once, without shouting it.
From nurses and doctors to pharmacists, administrators, and beyond, the story makes mom’s work at the hospital fun and relatable for little ones.
“I love my job as a nurse, but it’s heartbreaking to leave home for night shifts and tell my young kids that mommy is leaving to take care of others.”
Jenny, my delivery room nurse, shared this honest insight with me hours before I welcomed my first child to the world. Her words inspired the creation of this story for all the medical professional moms out there.
Jossy Lee, author
This imaginative story brings readers through mom’s day at the hospital while drawing parallels with her child’s day at school. Mommy Goes to Work at the Hospital is written and illustrated by two working moms. Like every book in the series, it’s designed to:
X-ray and T-rex—they’re both studying bones. It’s one little way we create a connection between a parent’s world at work and a child’s world at school.
This X-ray page also went through so many iterations. Our medical advisors reviewed every detail to make sure it was accurate—including making sure our patient didn’t accidentally lose a rib!
We intentionally designed the mom so her role could be anything. As we developed the book, we consulted nurses, psychologists, child life specialists, social workers, pharmacists, and doctors to make sure it is relatable to all hospital moms.
Inclusion matters. Did you notice that the boy in the green shirt has a hearing aid? That enables him to hear the music, too.
From pediatric units and mothers’ rooms to employee lounges, gift shops, and maternity gifts through employee wellness programs, our storybooks can become part of the everyday moments that help families feel seen, supported, and connected.
Let’s explore what this could look like in your hospital community.
For your family, or to gift to one.
Ships in December. Anything in the same order ships with it.
The Office edition and the Daddy edition, one set. Hospital sold separately. Ships in December.
All three editions, one bundle. Ships in December.
I didn’t set out to build a workplace movement — I set out to make morning drop-offs a little easier for working parents.
Every book runs a parent’s day and a child’s day side by side, page for page, so a goodbye reads as a shared adventure instead of a leaving. It’s as much for the parent as it is for the child.
I’d love to send you and your family a copy.
Copies ship in January.
I didn’t set out to build a workplace movement — I set out to make morning drop-offs a little easier for working parents.
Every book runs a parent’s day and a child’s day side by side, page for page, so a goodbye reads as a shared adventure instead of a leaving. It’s as much for the parent as it is for the child.
I’d love to send you and your family a copy.
Tell me where and I’ll get it on its way.
I didn’t set out to build a workplace movement — I set out to make morning drop-offs a little easier for working parents.
Every book runs a parent’s day and a child’s day side by side, page for page, so a goodbye reads as a shared adventure instead of a leaving. It’s as much for the parent as it is for the child.
I’d love to send you and your family a copy.
Tell me where and I’ll get it on its way.
For a gifting program, an event, a logo run, a hospital or healthcare partnership — or press. A real person reads every note, usually within two business days.
17-second snippet
Not only a bedtime one — hum it in the car, put it on at breakfast, sing it at the school gate. Here's the opening; the whole song lands in your inbox, free.