Age for Library?

[engineerjourney]

My 13 month old loves books and has a pretty large collection of her own.  I think she would freak in excitement if she was taken to a library.  At what age did you start taking your kids to the library? I can get books for her pretty easily now without having to worry about her being loud or never wanting to leave.. She also still has a habit of trying to eat books... so I was thinking of waiting until that wasn't a common occurrence. 

[kanga1622]

We took my kids to the library around that age. Ours had a "movement" story time that was specifically geared for kids under 3. They sing songs, use musical instruments, read stories, and do fine motor stuff that is not a choking hazard (mats with small pieces inside for kids to move, etc.).

Our library encourages little kids in the library and has toys/puzzles out in the kids section. Lots of families here use it as a play date location.

I think you have nothing to lose by giving it a shot. If you find out you aren't comfortable with your kiddo eating books, give it another month or two and try again.

[thd7t]

You can't start too young. Good children's librarians can make excellent recommendations and you don't have to store all the books at home. Book eating is a threat with the little ones, but you can keep a handle on it.

[sparkytheop]

It's never too early!  I'd keep "free range" with the library books to a minimum until the book chewing stops, but there is a chance your library will have some pretty tough books for the younger ones.  We didn't get to go to most of the group stuff since it happened during my work hours, but they had programs every week for 1-5 year olds in a separate room.  They'd read a story, have a snack, and make a craft.

My son got his first library card on his 7th birthday, as early as he could get it (7 was the minimum age).  He's now 18 and still making constant trips to the library.

[gooki]

Our son started going at six months.

[arebelspy]

Our local library has a weekly song/rhyme time for infants that we've been attending for the last few weeks (it's about 20ish minutes, followed by like a 30-minute thing for toddlers, and then a thing after that for the 5ish age range).  Our daughter just hit 6-months old a few days ago, and has been going for a few weeks.

Sadly, we only have one left before we move on.  But we've learned quite a few Australian nursery rhymes--a few being totally new, some being exactly the same as ours, and a couple being similar but tweaked.  Did you know they call the itsy-bitsy spider the Incy Wincy spider?  "Down came the rain and washed the spider poor Incy out!"  :D

[thd7t]

Our local library has a weekly song/rhyme time for infants that we've been attending for the last few weeks (it's about 20ish minutes, followed by like a 30-minute thing for toddlers, and then a thing after that for the 5ish age range).  Our daughter just hit 6-months old a few days ago, and has been going for a few weeks.

Sadly, we only have one left before we move on.  But we've learned quite a few Australian nursery rhymes--a few being totally new, some being exactly the same as ours, and a couple being similar but tweaked.  Did you know they call the itsy-bitsy spider the Incy Wincy spider?  "Down came the rain and washed the spider poor Incy out!"  :D

I have heard those variations in the US. I wondered if it was regional or had to do with how children's early speech varies.

[FIREdancer]

As someone who works in libraries, my opinion is to bring your babies in as soon as possible!  We regularly have newborns sign up for our summer reading program, and we have story times for all ages, including one specifically for babies who are not walking.  And children's librarians are well aware of the fact that babies will chew on everything, including the books, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Some libraries also have toys and things for babies and young children to check out.  At my library we have themed bags for different ages from birth to about 5 years that come with a collection of age-appropriate toys, books, DVDs, and CDs that you can check out for a month.

[rubybeth]

As a librarian, I have to say, we have books and programming/events for all ages, including "Baby Bounce," which is a lap storytime for babies. Toddler storytime is for ages 18-36 months, but some libraries do younger age ranges. And most libraries these days aren't totally silent affairs--I'd honestly be surprised if you found a children's area that's totally silent. ;D Most families bring in all their kids--from infants to school ages to teens. We have stuff for all of them.

Libraries often have "board books," or those cardboard extra sturdy titles that kids can use as toys, as well as developing print awareness. Kids should be read to regularly from a very young age to develop early literacy skills. Some of our branch libraries do a program called 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, which is a challenge to parents to read a lot before their kid starts school. You may end up reading the same book 100x (kids love repetition and it's good for them!), but it's excellent preparation for school. Parents are a child's first teacher.

The most important things you can do to develop early literacy skills with your child: talk, read, write, sing, and play. Yes, play is actually very important work for kids. Some libraries now have "smart play spots" that are designed for kids to do imaginative play. In one of our branches, we have a store, a fishing pond, a puppet theatre, a giant alphabet board, and more--kids love this area.

One of my favorite things to do with kids is called dialogic reading--asking them questions about the book we are reading together, and not just "yes/no" questions, but rather, "What do you notice on this page? What do you think is going to happen?" type questions. Or I point out interesting things--"there's a doggie! you've seen a doggie at grandma's house!" to make the connection between stories and real life.

[QueenV]

I waited until my son was past the "chewing on books" stage.  Only because he's ruined a few of ours and I didn't want to risk having to pay to replace library books if they got damaged!  He's 18 months now and we've checked out board books several times and it's been a great success!  It's really nice to supplement the books we own to keep things interesting.  (And nice not to have to buy them and store them.)  Our library also has an awesome indoor play area for kids so we visit a lot even without checking anything out. 

[kimmarg]

We started at 4 months, mostly to get me out of the house! She is now 8 months The local library has a 'baby lapsit' story time. it's about 15min or songs and rhymes and a book. Then they bring out a tub of board books and the kids dive in.  The library also has some puppets which she really likes.  And yea, she just tries to eat the books but that's ok.

Look in neighboring towns too. We live midway between two and discovered one has story time on Mon and one on Wed so we can go twice a week!

[kimmarg]

Some of our branch libraries do a program called 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, which is a challenge to parents to read a lot before their kid starts school. You may end up reading the same book 100x (kids love repetition and it's good for them!), but it's excellent preparation for school.

So I looked up this program "1,000 books before kindergarten" and just downloaded the app but I don't get it. Do you just track what you read to your kid? Does it suggest titles? I guess I don't understand why I would track what I read - It just brings back memories of elementary school when we used to have 'reading logs' which I hated.

[Venturing]

I've been taking my now 2 year old daughter since she was tiny. She was 3 months old when she got her own library card. I consider your own card to be a rite of passage :)

We have our daughter a play kitchen for her birthday. She was adament that it had come from the library (cause obviously that's where you get cool things from)

[thd7t]

Some of our branch libraries do a program called 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, which is a challenge to parents to read a lot before their kid starts school. You may end up reading the same book 100x (kids love repetition and it's good for them!), but it's excellent preparation for school.

So I looked up this program "1,000 books before kindergarten" and just downloaded the app but I don't get it. Do you just track what you read to your kid? Does it suggest titles? I guess I don't understand why I would track what I read - It just brings back memories of elementary school when we used to have 'reading logs' which I hated.

That app sounds like a good way to make a relaxing way to entertain your child into a chore. Just read. Getting your kids used to the library means that in a couple of years, they will be excited to go there and pick out their own books. They will choose some real stinkers, headscratchers, and winners. You get to be surprised by what interests them (Kansas, two weeks in a row at age 4?)

[GuitarStv]

We started taking our son to the library as soon as he had the motor skills to hold himself upright in the bike trailer . . . so about eight or nine months.  Now that he's two and a half, we let him wander the kids section and pick out books that we'll read together every night.  He's always really excited to go to the library!

[pbkmaine]

I was 7 when I got my own library card. I was so proud! I was able to take out 4 books at once!

[rubybeth]

Some of our branch libraries do a program called 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, which is a challenge to parents to read a lot before their kid starts school. You may end up reading the same book 100x (kids love repetition and it's good for them!), but it's excellent preparation for school.

So I looked up this program "1,000 books before kindergarten" and just downloaded the app but I don't get it. Do you just track what you read to your kid? Does it suggest titles? I guess I don't understand why I would track what I read - It just brings back memories of elementary school when we used to have 'reading logs' which I hated.

That app sounds like a good way to make a relaxing way to entertain your child into a chore. Just read. Getting your kids used to the library means that in a couple of years, they will be excited to go there and pick out their own books. They will choose some real stinkers, headscratchers, and winners. You get to be surprised by what interests them (Kansas, two weeks in a row at age 4?)

The app is one way to track, but libraries doing the program offer additional incentives--special programming, activities, and suggested books for different age participants. We also do incentives (some libraries give a nice book bag for toting books to/from the library) and stickers or other small items for the kids as they reach milestones, plus a "graduation" celebration storytime when they reach 1,000 books. We aren't too concerned with total accuracy on the counting side, but more the development of a habit. Some of the responses from participants indicated that it helps parents prioritize reading--saying that they starting read two books before bed each night, for example. If you're already in the habit of regular reading, it's not necessary, but it's fun for kids to see their progress toward a goal.

[thd7t]

Some of our branch libraries do a program called 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, which is a challenge to parents to read a lot before their kid starts school. You may end up reading the same book 100x (kids love repetition and it's good for them!), but it's excellent preparation for school.

So I looked up this program "1,000 books before kindergarten" and just downloaded the app but I don't get it. Do you just track what you read to your kid? Does it suggest titles? I guess I don't understand why I would track what I read - It just brings back memories of elementary school when we used to have 'reading logs' which I hated.

That app sounds like a good way to make a relaxing way to entertain your child into a chore. Just read. Getting your kids used to the library means that in a couple of years, they will be excited to go there and pick out their own books. They will choose some real stinkers, headscratchers, and winners. You get to be surprised by what interests them (Kansas, two weeks in a row at age 4?)

The app is one way to track, but libraries doing the program offer additional incentives--special programming, activities, and suggested books for different age participants. We also do incentives (some libraries give a nice book bag for toting books to/from the library) and stickers or other small items for the kids as they reach milestones, plus a "graduation" celebration storytime when they reach 1,000 books. We aren't too concerned with total accuracy on the counting side, but more the development of a habit. Some of the responses from participants indicated that it helps parents prioritize reading--saying that they starting read two books before bed each night, for example. If you're already in the habit of regular reading, it's not necessary, but it's fun for kids to see their progress toward a goal.

I am highly supportive of the library programs. It's the app that sounds like drudgery.

[kimmarg]

The app is one way to track, but libraries doing the program offer additional incentives--special programming, activities, and suggested books for different age participants. We also do incentives (some libraries give a nice book bag for toting books to/from the library) and stickers or other small items for the kids as they reach milestones, plus a "graduation" celebration storytime when they reach 1,000 books. We aren't too concerned with total accuracy on the counting side, but more the development of a habit. Some of the responses from participants indicated that it helps parents prioritize reading--saying that they starting read two books before bed each night, for example. If you're already in the habit of regular reading, it's not necessary, but it's fun for kids to see their progress toward a goal.

That sounds nice. I forgot to ask about it when we went to the library today. The library also has some toys so she spent most of the time playing with the bead-on-a-wire thingy. An OP definitely check out your library! They even had a bin to put stuff that your kid had eaten so it could be washed. Very clearly baby friendly as it's super hard to keep stuff out of their mouthes!

[engineerjourney]

Thank you all soooo much for your replies!! I am really excited to take her to the library now!!  :-)

[Metric Mouse]

Our local library has a weekly song/rhyme time for infants that we've been attending for the last few weeks (it's about 20ish minutes, followed by like a 30-minute thing for toddlers, and then a thing after that for the 5ish age range).  Our daughter just hit 6-months old a few days ago, and has been going for a few weeks.

Sadly, we only have one left before we move on.  But we've learned quite a few Australian nursery rhymes--a few being totally new, some being exactly the same as ours, and a couple being similar but tweaked.  Did you know they call the itsy-bitsy spider the Incy Wincy spider?  "Down came the rain and washed the spider poor Incy out!"  :D

I have heard those variations in the US. I wondered if it was regional or had to do with how children's early speech varies.

When on the road, my friends and I (from all across the country) I spent many a night arguing if it was properly 'duck, duck, goose' or 'duck, duck, gray duck'.

[Sibley]

I worked in a library as a teenager, so I got to see all the downsides of kids in libraries. Some things to keep in mind.

1. Do not allow kids (any age until they learn how to put the books back in the right place/not pull every book off the shelf) unsupervised access to book shelves. They'll start pulling everything off the shelf and make a mess for the pages to clean up (either on the floor or on the shelf).
2. If they do pull a bunch of stuff off the shelves, either put it back in the RIGHT place, or leave it on a table. Don't just shove it willy-nilly on a shelf. Parents are sometimes worse than the kids.
3. Do not use the library as a babysitter.
4. Be careful about leaving a child alone in the kid's section and getting your own books. Most of the time they'll be fine. There will be the time the kid looks up for you, can't find you, and freaks out. I'm not saying you can't do it, but you need to make sure the kid knows where you're going - do not disappear on them.
5. Screaming baby/kid and it's not going to stop in a minute or two - please take them home. Public place, no one wants to hear screaming. (Yes, I know that's a hot button issue. I don't mind happy noise, I hate unhappy noise. You chose to have kids, I didn't, and don't make me endure your screaming kid in PUBLIC because you have "rights". So do I, so take the kid home. They probably need a nap anyway.)
6. Fess up to issues, damage, mess, etc the kid caused. I think the staff would rather know about something than discover it in a nasty way.

But libraries are awesome for kids of all ages. Just gotta teach "library manners".

[flashpacker]

We just started taking our 5 month old to baby storytime at the library.  She LOVES it!!  They do songs and sign language.  We go to two different libraries since they only have it once a week each.

[Kitsune]

Some of our branch libraries do a program called 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, which is a challenge to parents to read a lot before their kid starts school. You may end up reading the same book 100x (kids love repetition and it's good for them!), but it's excellent preparation for school.

So I looked up this program "1,000 books before kindergarten" and just downloaded the app but I don't get it. Do you just track what you read to your kid? Does it suggest titles? I guess I don't understand why I would track what I read - It just brings back memories of elementary school when we used to have 'reading logs' which I hated.

That app sounds like a good way to make a relaxing way to entertain your child into a chore. Just read. Getting your kids used to the library means that in a couple of years, they will be excited to go there and pick out their own books. They will choose some real stinkers, headscratchers, and winners. You get to be surprised by what interests them (Kansas, two weeks in a row at age 4?)

The app is one way to track, but libraries doing the program offer additional incentives--special programming, activities, and suggested books for different age participants. We also do incentives (some libraries give a nice book bag for toting books to/from the library) and stickers or other small items for the kids as they reach milestones, plus a "graduation" celebration storytime when they reach 1,000 books. We aren't too concerned with total accuracy on the counting side, but more the development of a habit. Some of the responses from participants indicated that it helps parents prioritize reading--saying that they starting read two books before bed each night, for example. If you're already in the habit of regular reading, it's not necessary, but it's fun for kids to see their progress toward a goal.

I am highly supportive of the library programs. It's the app that sounds like drudgery.

This. I use goodreads to keep track of my novels (72 so far this year... parenthood apparently hasn't made much of a dent in my reading habits) but given the number of books we read to the toddler... ye gods.

Also, how would you count the 37th time this month that we read A Giraffe and a Half to my toddler? Is that one book or 37? (And yes, she HAS requested it minimum 3 times a day this month... *headdesk*)

[ysette9]

We haven't done the library activities (though there are a ton of them near us) because of either 1) being held during work hours or 2) in a language we don't speak to her at home, but just this week my father took our 2 year-old to a story time. Even though it was in a language we don't speak to her she was still so enthralled that she literally fell off her chair while listening (boom! waaaaa!). :)

[MommyStache]

My six month and two year old both go to story time every week, but we didn't get much use out of checking out books until we moved past the same rotation of board books, and on to picture books with stories.... So somewhere between eighteen months and two years for my oldest.

[JLR]

Libraries here run sessions from birth - the Baby Bounce mentioned above.

From 12 months to school age (5-6 years) they run Storytime. This is a weekly session of craft, fruit break, a story read aloud by a library worker and some songs and dancing. There is usually a theme tying it all together.

From birth to teens there is a tag on the library card account so that the children's account doesn't attract late fees. There may also be restrictions on the account (eg. can't borrow certain movie ratings, can't access the internet) unless the parent agrees.

These days libraries aren't silent places. Every day there are sessions being run, from Baby Bounce to knitting classes.

And all ages damage books. Not just babies. Do the best you can to keep them in good order, but don't feel bad about confessing to damage and paying the library for it. It happens all the time. So long as you aren't being careless, librarians would prefer books to be used rather than sitting on the shelf in pristine condition.

[marion10]

Also our library has free passes to local museums you can check out and there may be other things as well.

[Ceridwen]

I started bringing my son to the library as soon as I could get out of the house with him! It was one of our weekly stops in walks in our neighbourhood.  I loved choosing new books for him to read.  Chewing books wasn't a big issue in our house, but if it was I would have just made sure that he only got a hold of the library books while supervised.

Now I have a 4 and 2 year old, and we still go to the library nearly every week.  They love it.  It's a great place to practice social skills (being quiet while inside, interacting with people, etc).  Our library also has board games and DVDs, so we often check those out too.

[Kyle Schuant]

My lad always had access to heaps of books at home so it didn't occur to me to take him to the library until he was 4yo - when I wanted to get back into reading books regularly (too much time with kids turns your brain to mush). So I took him with me, "you go and get 2 books," I said as we walked in past the kid's section, and I'd go get 2 books.

I'm reading a lot more widely than I used to, since he takes about 3 minutes to choose books, a 5yo judges a book by its cover! So I have to hurry and grab something quickly.

We go through the whole ritual of returning books through the slot, checking them out and so on. Last time he surprised me, wouldn't put the book in the slot, "I have to show the library man I tore the page," he said - I hadn't known. And the librarian was very touched by his honesty and just told him to turn the page from the outside not the middle, etc.

As others have said, make reading interactive for them. Point out the first lettes of their name, or where it says "mama" or "dog" or whatever, talk about what's on the page. They quickly memorise books, especially if they rhyme, and will pick up any mistakes you make in reading it - so I make mistakes on purpose, and pretend ignorance while he corrects me, making a joke of it.

The kids will also put their own interpretation on the story. Reading "spot goes to the park," I reached the bit where the mother dog says they're going to the park.
"No papa that is the papa dog."
"The book says it's the mama dog."
"No that is wrong, it is the papa dog."
"Why?"
"Because mama dog is at work."

In this way a pretty simple story can actually take quite a while to read (plan dinner and bedtime rituals accordingly!) and tkae you into some interesting conversations where you teach them things far beyond what's in the book...

[LouLou]

This thread is fantastic.  Turns out the library within walking distance of my house has laptime!  I will be taking my 9 week old starting next week. 

[UncleMark]

my 2 years

[little_brown_dog]

My one year old loves the library. We go to a baby/toddler story time there. Of course at this age she isn't really paying a ton of attention to the story, but its a nice little socialization activity and a great way to get more language into her day.