Pet Peeve

Mine is parents who bring very young children to programs intended for school-aged children.  As in parents with infants, toddlers, or preschoolers (with shorter attention spans) who attend programs for their older children.  Example:  Last week during a summer reading program, a very young child in the room had  a piercingly loud temper tantrum and we could not continue the program.  Although I had announced at the beginning of the program (over the PA system and also in the room before the program began) that it was intended for children in grades K-5, the mother brought the younger child in anyway.  Over the child's high-pitched screams, I finally had to address the mother by calmly saying, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to step out with her."  I acted on behalf of all the other children in the room for whom the program was intended.  Those children were ready, listening, and waiting for the activities to continue.  The mother of the screaming child became enraged and said she intended to let my manager hear about the incident.  It is unfortunate when we sometimes encounter misinformed parents with anger management problems.  It is also unfortunate that courtesy to others is sometimes forgotten by self-serving members of the public.

All About Ambulating

For a year or more I've been doing babytimes and storytimes for 3,4, & 5 year olds.  My current partner and I have changed it up a bit and I'll continue to do the storytimes, but she'll take over with the babies and I'll "move up" to the toddler programs.  While this doesn't sound like a terribly huge change, it is actually a major shift in focus for me.  When working with babies and their caregivers I primarily concentrate on simple touch, tickle, bounce, clap, and peek-a-boo rhymes.  With the toddlers it's all about ambulating.  I do lots of activities and songs that involve movement with them, because that's what they do and like, and that's what gets their attention.  In any given toddler program we may gallop like a horse, splash like the rain, twinkle like a star, tip over like a teapot, row our boats, and stop like a dragonfly on a leaf, among other things.  At the end of Toddler Time we are all exhilerated and a tad tired, which is a wonderful seque into quietly (?) looking at books.