[blparent] lessons learned when taking my daughter to the library

[Melissa Ann Riccobono]

This is a great question.  I generally take my kids to organized story
times.  Our library also has a nice children's area with toys where we will
go to play sometimes.  I'm very fortunate to live in the same town as our
library for the blind, and even more fortunate that they have a very nice
children's area and, of course, tons of print and braille books we can read
while there and check out and take home.  You could also bring a few braille
books with you so you can read them while you're at the library, and then
ask for some help checking out books you think your daughter will enjoy to
take home and have your babysitter or someone else read to her.  Of course,
as she gets older, she'll be able to tell you a lot more about what's in the
books she's looking at, help pick books for herself, etc.  Libraries also
sometimes have great collections of audio books and DVDs, so you might want
to check some of those out to watch or listen to at home.
Hope this helps.
Melissa

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jennifer Bose
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 6:04 PM
To: blparent
Subject: [blparent] lessons learned when taking my daughter to the library

Hi, everyone.

I feel lucky this list is here. It's a very supportive community and a
good place to share tips.

I'm not usually home with my two-year-old daughter Abigail in the
morning, but today I was, so I thought I'd take her to our town
library. It's a beautiful place that I've only been in once or twice;
usually her babysitter, who takes care of her while I'm at work
full-time, takes her and my neighbor's kids there so she's a bit of a
regular. I'm kind of a spontaneous person by nature, so I don't always
do the careful thinking I should do before I go somewhere or do
something. If things don't work out so well, I try to turn the
experience into a list of things to do differently next time. What I
got from this trip was: Everyone who works at the library is very
sweet and interested in our being able to use the library, but of
course it's a very print-heavy environment; I couldn't read any of the
picture books to her. So I'll have to find some scheduled story times
to take her to, rather than trying to wing it. Next, it's best not to
go close to lunchtime, when there are fewer staff around to ask for
help.

The trip wasn't a complete bust. She got to look at many pictures and
see some children she knows. But it leaves me wondering what the rest
of you do about the library. Do you like to go with your children,
especially if they're very young? How do you handle an environment
where all the books and other media are geared toward the
"light-dependent", as Robert calls them? Do you forget about it
altogether and let someone else take your children there? The thing
is, I love libraries and books and I love reading to kids, especially
to my daughter, so I couldn't resist trying this. What other advice do
you have for me and other blind parents who might benefit?

Thanks a lot. Happy 2012 to all.

Jen

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