From her college graduation on, Sabrina Parsons remembers her dad, Tim Berry, asking her to come work with him. “I’d rather be put in a blender,” she replied at the time.

But three years ago—six years after she first told her father "no"—she changed her mind. Now, Parsons is CEO of Palo Alto Software, a business-plan and marketing-plan software company.

She finally accepted her dad's offer after first having accomplished some goals on her own. In 2001, she and husband Noah Parsons, who now serves as Palo Alto Software's COO, started a software company in the United Kingdom. They sold it to Berry, who saw the opportunity to bring them both on board. "We talked about me taking over and decided that it was the right decision not only for us, but for our business,” she says.

The Small Business Administration doesn't break out how many family-owned businesses in this country are helmed by a parent-child team. But this Father's Day, those who have teamed up with their kids feel that they have something a little extra to celebrate. "I didn't set out to start a family business," says Berry. "But to have someone so smart and so loyal is great continuity for our brand."

Berry, who began his career as a journalist and then went back to Stanford to get his MBA before starting a small consulting business in 1983, didn't know then that by the time he'd hand the CEO reigns to Sabrina, he'd be running a $6 million company. What he did know was that he wanted his kids working alongside him. "In the early days, the kids were called upon to put labels on discs before we packaged them up," he laughs. By the mid-1990s, he introduced Business Plan Pro, and the company took off.

Even though he had been teasing Sabrina about joining him and one day taking over, they never formalized a succession plan. As Berry tells it, he was happy to have his daughter and son-in-law work in the same office as he did, and the actual decision to pass the torch happened in a matter of minutes. “I walked the 50 feet that it took to get to her office and asked her, 'What would you do if you were in charge?' And she had a long answer ready for me,” he says. “I knew she was ready because she had clearly put a lot of thought into the prospect.”

The transition took about a year in order for both of them to fully feel comfortable in their new roles and for their growing staff to know that this wasn’t a case of the daughter taking over. “I didn’t run into much push back because I wasn’t fresh out of college becoming VP of marketing at the company my father ran,” Parsons says. “It was very important for me, and for the employees, to know that I have years of independent experience.”

For professional speaker Larry Johnson, of the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Johnson Training Group, making sure that his daughter got “real-world experience” before she joined his business was a must. “I remember that Meagan wanted to join the firm as a speaker immediately following her college graduation,” he says. “I kept putting her off, telling her that she needed to go out into the real world before she could talk about it as a writer, speaker, or trainer.”

A few years later, a scheduling snafu led to Meagan Johnson’s break into her dad’s business. Needing a speaker for an engagement just days away, Larry called on her. “I said: I have good news and bad news. The good is that I have a paying speaking engagement for you. The bad: It’s Monday, and you haven’t see the material. Do you want it?” Meagan jumped at the chance, and they’ve been working together for the past 14 years, sharing some responsibilities, but pursuing their clients independently.

Separating duties is key to a good working partnership between family members, experts agree. And what can be so attractive to parents and their kids working together is a complimentary set of skills.

Chris J. Guerra of BrandOrders.com, an online trade show that brings together vendors and retail buyers, knew his dad’s connections and retail-development skills were just what his fledgling company needed. “While my dad was new to the online world, he had 30 years of experience in the brick-and-mortar retail world. Experience that’s invaluable to my company.”

The generational divide can also make a familial partnership more profitable. "I speak about the importance of capturing the intrinsic knowledge baby boomers have before they retire, relocate, or die," Meagan Johnson says. "They have an inordinate amount of experience and intellectual capital that we Gen Xers take for granted.” Being able to reach out to her father often can help solve a business problem that’s stumping her, she adds.

And having their kids around helps motivate many a father. “Meagan’s youthful energy and drive keeps me on my toes,” says Larry Johnson.