Does it ever feel like all you ever say to your kids is "no"? It does in our house...
- Can I fly by myself to Hawaii to visit grandma? No.
- Can I paint my fingernails? No.
- Can I have a sleepover? No.
- Can I have two cookies after dinner? No.
- Can I sleep in your bed tonight, mom? No, absolutely not! No!
So without a lot of forethought, I said "yes" to my 6-year-old daughter the other day. She asked:
"Mom, can I get my own library card?"
You should know that books are about #3 on my list of "Best Things in Life" after my kids and husband. I have a picture of the Gutenburg Press in my office. If I'm not reading a book at any given time I start to go slowly insane. Hopefully you get the idea.
My daughter seems to love reading too. Kindergarten is working its magic. Letter recognition, phonics, memorization of passages, reading to them constantly -- all of the pre-literacy skills are setting this kid's brain on fire, and by golly, she is starting to read! It's fantastic. It's that same bursting-with-pride feeling like when they take their first baby steps. It's as if this one brilliant child -- my child! -- has invented reading itself!! That's the excitement I feel.
So I cut her a deal on getting the library card. She got it under the following conditions:
- She is responsible for writing down on the calendar when her books are due.
- She is responsible for finding them and remembering to return them on time.
- She is responsible for paying the overdue fines (via her piggy bank) should said books not get returned in time.
Her first two books are still checked out. I'll report back to let you know whether this worked or not. How old were your kids when the got their first library card? How did they handle the responsibility? Any tips to share?
Oh and I did recently tell her she could attend her first sleepover. It's scheduled for April. I'm really not sure what I was thinking when I said "yes" on that. But that's a whole other post of its own...
