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

[Veronica Smith]

I used to take Gab all the time and never worried if I could read the books
or not.  Sometimes I would just pick up a book, any book and pretend to read
it.  Gab was very young and didn't know if I read the right words or not.  I
also took her to age appropriate story times.  We did this like clock work
until she was  too old for the day time classes.
An idea for you, if you have to have a book you can read, take one from
home.  Stop at the desk and let the personnel know what you are doing, a
nice print/Braille book will do.
V

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jennifer Bose
Sent: Friday, January 06, 2012 4:04 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

_______________________________________________
blparent mailing list
blparent at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blparent_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
blparent:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blparent_nfbnet.org/madison_tewe%40spinn.n
et