CHILD'S PLAY...
Yes.
Once again the school holidays are done and dusted.
Once again we were busy--crazy busy. (which of course is excellent for the library, just hard physically...and mentally... on those that work there).
So many people came to borrow, to read, to take home DVD's, to play console games.
Dare I talk about console games? Lovely sunny days, warm days, and the console games were booked solid from morning to night. And at any mention of 'it's a beautiful day out there, wouldn't you rather be playing in it?' ...was met with a blank stare. From children...and their parents.
What was encouraging were the numbers of children borrowing books. Lots of books ...piles of books...bags of books. Simply to get them through the next few weeks. Great sight.
It was also nice to see everyone's creativity with the school holiday program. There were budding pirates complete with parrots---big machines, diggers and tractors, being created---live entertainment with story and song----yucky, slimy stories and fly-swatted bugs---beautiful flower gardens----and timely flower clocks.
Although there are times when I wonder what would happen if we had a parents only craft activity.
So many parents take over their children's craft---they colour in...correctly.
Without going over the lines.
They cut out.... without cutting off a head or arm or leg (I always say stickytape can fix any situation)
They insist on adding this here, and that there.
Insist that a penguin will be coloured in black and white- that cows are not green- and that birds have two legs (not five).
I'd rather let the children go for it.
In fact my penguins are usually rainbow coloured...my last cow was purple and yellow...and my cutting out is rather bad. It helps the children realise that they don't have to be perfect. So many will want to create exactly what we are showing them...exactly...down to the 'Vicki's cow has a flower to the left so will mine'.
But it's the imagination that should be nurtured. Encouraged.
We have groups of kids that come to the library and wait for working parents to pick them up. Regulars that sit and read or get onto the console games, use the wifi. One young girl is a great talker. She talks about this and that, about school, about what we are doing, about the game she is playing.
Then she uttered those words ' I don't like books'
'Why not?'
'Boring.'
'Boring? But there is so much fun to be had in books. The adventure. The places you can go, the people you can meet. All these wonderful things that you can do when you read.'
She doesn't believe me. She shakes her head. 'No, because none of that is real.'
'Can't you use your imagination?'
No, she can't. She refuses to.
It's a sad world when a child can't see the joy in reading.
But then again, I haven't finished talking to her. If she can play games where she's driving a car around a race track, or firing at aliens, or discovering the lost treasure...she has imagination.
I just have to find the right way to show her what she can discover in books too.
Wish me luck
Vicki
Once again the school holidays are done and dusted.
Once again we were busy--crazy busy. (which of course is excellent for the library, just hard physically...and mentally... on those that work there).
So many people came to borrow, to read, to take home DVD's, to play console games.
Dare I talk about console games? Lovely sunny days, warm days, and the console games were booked solid from morning to night. And at any mention of 'it's a beautiful day out there, wouldn't you rather be playing in it?' ...was met with a blank stare. From children...and their parents.
What was encouraging were the numbers of children borrowing books. Lots of books ...piles of books...bags of books. Simply to get them through the next few weeks. Great sight.
It was also nice to see everyone's creativity with the school holiday program. There were budding pirates complete with parrots---big machines, diggers and tractors, being created---live entertainment with story and song----yucky, slimy stories and fly-swatted bugs---beautiful flower gardens----and timely flower clocks.
Although there are times when I wonder what would happen if we had a parents only craft activity.
So many parents take over their children's craft---they colour in...correctly.
Without going over the lines.
They cut out.... without cutting off a head or arm or leg (I always say stickytape can fix any situation)
They insist on adding this here, and that there.
Insist that a penguin will be coloured in black and white- that cows are not green- and that birds have two legs (not five).
I'd rather let the children go for it.
In fact my penguins are usually rainbow coloured...my last cow was purple and yellow...and my cutting out is rather bad. It helps the children realise that they don't have to be perfect. So many will want to create exactly what we are showing them...exactly...down to the 'Vicki's cow has a flower to the left so will mine'.
But it's the imagination that should be nurtured. Encouraged.
We have groups of kids that come to the library and wait for working parents to pick them up. Regulars that sit and read or get onto the console games, use the wifi. One young girl is a great talker. She talks about this and that, about school, about what we are doing, about the game she is playing.
Then she uttered those words ' I don't like books'
'Why not?'
'Boring.'
'Boring? But there is so much fun to be had in books. The adventure. The places you can go, the people you can meet. All these wonderful things that you can do when you read.'
She doesn't believe me. She shakes her head. 'No, because none of that is real.'
'Can't you use your imagination?'
No, she can't. She refuses to.
It's a sad world when a child can't see the joy in reading.
But then again, I haven't finished talking to her. If she can play games where she's driving a car around a race track, or firing at aliens, or discovering the lost treasure...she has imagination.
I just have to find the right way to show her what she can discover in books too.
Wish me luck
Vicki
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