Do you remember Take Your Child to Work Day, when parents explained all those mysterious things they did in the office to their kids? Here comes the flip side, in which parents go to work with their adult children — and listen while someone explains why tablets don't have any paper.

Sponsored by the Web service LinkedIn, Bring in Your Parents Day was inspired by a survey which found a third of people with grown children professed to not knowing what their offspring do at their jobs.

This was a particular problem at LinkedIn, a career networking website where twenty-somethings spend their days working on digital projects that baffle their techno-challenged parents. The company's headquarters held an open house in which employees invited their parents to spend a couple of hours watching over their shoulders. The positive feedback led LinkedIn to advocate that other businesses try it.

The date proposed for the occasion is Nov. 7. There's a website, linkedinbringinyourparents.com, with tips on arranging the event, beginning with suggestions for how to lobby your company's brass to get on board.

The website argues that parents often are overlooked as a source for advice because they don't fully grasp the nature of their sons' and daughters' work.

"We want to highlight the value and wisdom they hold and, in turn, allow them to better understand what it is their children do to better support them," the site says.

Besides, the more you know, the less likely you are to say something like: "Isn't a tweet deck just a newfangled tape deck?" □