Last week, I ran across a Wall Street Journal article about how kids think that all their parents do at work is mess around on the computer and talk on the phone.

I shudder to think how many hours my 11-year-old has spent waiting for me to finish working, either in the office, at home — or gasp! — while driving. I guess he pays at least a little bit of attention, because he did pretty well when I quizzed him and captured the essence of my job in about 30 seconds.

My 4-year-old, on the other hand, has an entirely different idea of what I'm up to when she's at preschool.

She has no clue that I actually do spend a good portion of my day sitting in front of the computer and talking on the phone.

Why would she? If she's in the office with me, I'm too busy chasing her around to sit down at my computer for any significant length of time, and any phone calls I make are usually to beg her father to take her off my hands so I can make deadline.

She doesn't imagine me as frazzled as I usually am when I have to bring her into the office, though. She thinks I spend my day eating snacks and playing with toys.

It's a perfectly logical assumption. I have a cache of toys at both my desks, just for her, and I often try to buy myself a few minutes of work time by buying her a snack.

On one of my daughter's most recent visits, a co-worker gave me some respite by taking my daughter on a tour of all the candy dishes in the building. My daughter came back with a bagful of snacks and the impression that every day is like Halloween at The Honolulu Advertiser.

If she's lucky, she won't ever spend enough time watching me work to be disabused of that notion.

Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com.