We went to the library yesterday. In the current economic climate and having paid off a whopping $30 fine in overdue fees last visit, I was faced with two choices. Either curtail all library visits in the knowledge that I am completely hopeless at getting books back on time or go more regularly in the vague hope that we will then return books by the due date.
I went with the latter but the children were under strict instruction to only choose two books each. Part of the problem with overdue books is that the kids have difficulty choosing one book over the other and so proceed to try and borrow the entire children’s section, so as not to miss out on a particular juicy book. Step a day over the due date and at $2 a book, it soon mounts up.
So having reached an agreement on the two book status, in we went.
There I was, feeling self righteous and happy in the knowledge that I was leading my children along the path of literature and learning.
Here’s how it went:
Jasmine, my 8 year old, has developed an addiction to the Rainbow Fairy series. All very well but I feel she should broaden her horizons, challenge herself a little and start reading something with a bit more content. On my request, her older cousins in the UK sent her a long list of their favourite books, alphabetically listed and in suggested age order. Fabulous.
Kai, next in line, always goes for the fire truck, emergency rescue non-fiction stuff. Great but I need to sneak in a few early readers for those times when he forgets to bring them home from school.
Maia, number 3, tries to fill up the entire shopping basket with books and then breaks all the library noise rules when you try and take them out.
Cashar, aged 2, acting 2, being very 2, thinks the library is great because the doors open automatically, allowing toddler freedom straight into the path of all the high street traffic. Interest in books – nil. Interest in endangering himself and any other little people he finds – 100%.
And therein lies the challenge.
I concentrated on Jasmine and tried to engage her in choosing. She found a Where’s Wally book and a friend and made her disinterest clear.
In the interim, Kai is behind the desk with the librarian, ordering in truckloads of emergency rescue books from other libraries just in case the10 he has under his arm don’t see him out the week.
Maia is emptying the shelves and Cashar, forgotten in the pandemonium, is busy trotting out the door with a newly found toddler friend in tow.
As I scoop him up, wailing, it fleetingly occurs to me I may have made the wrong choice in the ‘to library or not to library’ decision.
Nevertheless, hell bent on my task, I return to the young fiction section. Jasmine is nowhere to be seen so I grab two books off the shelves that match the cousin list. I give up on the early readers and wilt in the face of Maia’s book mountain she has created.
We go to the check out desk. Cashar has seriously had enough of being carried so I plonk him on the desk, to a disdainful sniff from the librarian. I gather the flock in a ‘come here now’ sort of voice that is definitely above the hushed whispers of other library users. We check out the books and make our escape.
Back in the car I heave a sigh of relief and ponder for a moment.
This is definitely part of my problem. I was faced with two choices – the easy option, which most sane people would choose or the Mummy option, which was to do the right thing at all times by your children.
And I guess, whilst one should always strive for number 2, sometimes, to save my sanity, I need to be content with allowing things to be slightly un-perfect for a while.
Hmm, lesson learnt - I think? Must remember to pull out the ‘too hard basket’ every once in a while and file library visits in there…at least until the current stash becomes overdue!
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