Our library is part library, part day care center. People come at ten when we open, leave their kids in the corner and do whatever they want for five or six hours letting their kids roam about freely. Some even drop their kids off and leave the premises. We are not the only library suffering from this problem; it happens everywhere. While the library is a welcoming place for the community, destructive toddlers and children screaming and tearing up the place does not make it a haven for the rest of the community.
One time a father left his 18 month year old alone in the children's section while he sat on the opposite end of the library at the computers. The toddler did what toddlers do, cause havoc. She promptly pulled as many books off the shelves as she could get her chubby fingers on. Today there was a pair of seven or eight year old boys ignored for SEVEN hours by their caregivers and left to make as much noise as they could.
I have come up with a solution. I made a sign today. It read: "Parents please watch your children. Unattended children will be given free puppies and coffee." Of course I'm flexible. I'd be happy to give them Mountain Dew instead. Perhaps I'll throw in a few Super Soakers they can take home. Maybe some of them would like kittens instead. I think it's only fair that the home of these children should be as quiet and peaceful a place as our library is.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Free Puppies to Every Child!
Posted by Carrie at 6:22 PM
Labels: unattended children
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5 comments:
Ohh, you're a mean, mean woman! I love it! :-D
That's how I felt after 8 hours at the daycare center I worked at for 3 years. There were days I wanted the kids to sleep half the day and be plugged into the TV for the rest. That way, when they got home, they were wired for sound...
It just amazes me how many people leave children unattended. If you try it, I'm sure every major library magazine would highlight your efforts :)
You know that's a good idea. We could have a nap room in the library! We could have the kids sleep half the day and when the parents come and pick them up they'll be up to midnight! It would make the library a quieter place. Although we'd have to monitor the nap room for the teenagers:)
Ohh...a nap room + a candy dish just waiting by the door for when the leave!
*much evil laughter*
Do you notice a trend at all in the parents that drop off their kids? Are they going to work parents, or just don't want to deal with their kids parents?
There are two that hang out at Main who come to the library just because they don't want to be home.
At our library it seems that a lot of the parents don't really care where there kids are so they hang out all evening. I do think its a combination of both working and disinterested parents though. Childcare's expensive so they might consider the library a cheap daycare.
Yesterday, there were two eight year old girls that were dropped of for 3-4 hours waiting for their dad to pick them up. Kids can only do so much at a library for 3 hours. They get bored. And when they get bored do you know what they do? They ask the librarians 10,000 questions! I had to sit them down with puzzles and word searches because I realized that they weren't asking questions because they wanted to know the answers but because they were bored.
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