[Publib] Parents and Storytime

[Raymond Arnett]

As a parent and a director, I would encourage you to make it large enough so
that parents and children can go together! I think the idea of requireing
parents to stay outside and separating children is an older convention that
should no longer be used.
 
We have a very nice storytime room with carpet tiles and murals on the wall,
but it is designed as a multi-purpose room (no special benches or anything -
just a room).
We use cushions on the floor and my children's librarian hosts both regular
and PJ storytimes and invites both parents and kids to attend.
 
My concern is that separating the children from their parents will limit the
ages you can accomodate and will potentially alienate parents who wish to be
involved.
 
For instance, as a parent, I enjoy attending storytimes with my 2 year old
daughter - we even attended them before she was two - at 18 months she
enjoyed bouncing on daddy's knee while the other children were jumping to
different songs.
 
If you were to require parents to stay outside, my daughter would (even now)
not be able to attend storytimes.
 
This allows you the flexibility to have both those children who can be alone
as well as letting parents into the room as well.
 
Just my 2 cents worth,
 
Ray
 

Ray Arnett
Director
Fremont Area District Library
104 East Main Street
Fremont, MI 49412
rarnett at fremontlibrary.net
(231) 928-0243
Fax (231) 928-2355

"if knowledge is power, then the public library system gives that power to
anyone who wants it" Salman Rushdie 

-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org]
On Behalf Of Karen Gartner
Sent: Thursday, July 13, 2006 3:17 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] Parents and Storytime


We are considering all possible options as we design a children's storytime
room. Your comments would be greatly appreciated. Here are 3 views. (Please
feel free to add to these.) We really want to hear what you think.

Thank you for helping us. 

(1) Parents and children should be able to see each other through glass
during storytime when parents are required to remain outside the room. This
arrangement reassures both parent and child.

(2) Parents should be able to see into the storytime room, but the children
should not be able to see the parents. This design reassures parents, but
helps to keep the children focussed on the story.

(3) There should be no visual contact between parent and child during
storytimes. This plan helps to keep the children focussed on the stories,
and lets children be themselves without undue parental concern.

Thank you for your help.

Karen M. Gartner
Executive Director
gartnerk at parklandlibrary.org
610-398-1333 x 22 

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