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The local library; worth every penny

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library
These guys understand the fun to be had in a library.

The other day I published a blog post about school holiday fatigue. As much as I have enjoyed spending so much time with my two children, my own life has been in stasis for the past few weeks as I have been entertaining both of them. That said, one place stood out above all others as the place to entertain youngsters. That place was the local library. This isn’t the first time I’ve written about visiting the library. I am, however, very impressed at how the local library had organised a range of incredibly simple activities that kept both our kids, in particular Helen, our five year old, entertained during the summer break.

The Mythical Maze challenge was the most significant activity. In return for reading six books, each child received a certificate and a medal. Thinking this would be a great way to keep Helen’s reading skills ticking over, I had envisaged her reading a couple of books a week.

Oh how naive was I. The promise of a medal was just too much. She read six books in a matter of days. If I hadn’t intervened and slowed her down I’m sure she’d have completed the challenge in 48 hours.

There were also a treasure hunt, colouring in and story writing opportunities. On more than one occasion I turned up at the library intending to leave after only a few minutes but found myself reluctantly dragging the kids out an hour and a half later.

I wasn’t the only one. I bumped into numerous people I knew who were also making use of the library’s facilities to educate and entertain their offspring.

I will also confess that we made exceedingly good use of the three for two DVD offer that’s been available during the summer months. Okay, okay, I’m the kind of parent that feels guilty about placing their kids in front of the small screen. Sometimes, however, I just needed the peace and quiet.

I thank you, local library, for providing quality films instead of trashy cartoons for fulfilling this need. It went some way to making me feel less guilty.

In fact, during the summer months I even bought a map of the world for the sum of £1 from the library. I used it today to discuss various events going on across the world and point out where they were happening. Helen was particularly intrigued to hear about events in Russia and the Ukraine. It was fascinating to hear how such a young mind interpreted the situation. I tell you this much, Vladimir Putin / pro-Russian forces had better never invade Poland or else Helen will be seeking answers.

Thank you library and thank you librarians. You efforts have made this summer that bit more enjoyable and the service is worth every single penny of council tax that funds it.

Photo credit: Tiyowprasetyo (sourced from Pixabay). Reproduced under Creative Commons 1.0 agreement. For more info about Creative Commons and for a link to the agreement, see my Disclosure page.

4 thoughts on “The local library; worth every penny”

  1. Fab post. Glad she enjoyed it so much and got so motivated to read. It’s great that you can hire DVDs so cheaply too.
    I worked for years as a council press officer and part of my job was promoting libraries and the Summer Reading Challenges, although I must admit we never joined in with the kids. How strange is that? I find with my kids that they enjoy reading, but if I tell them to read something, they will refuse on principle! They probably would have enjoyed the Summer Reading Challenges a few years ago, but now my boys are too old!

    1. It’s quite similar with my eldest Sarah; select a book for her and she’s unlikely to read it. Let her choose her own and she probably will. Needless to say, this is quite easy in a library!

      Thanks for commenting.

  2. Jill@chicbabybox

    Great Post. My children and I have also found the library to be an invaluable source this holidays. My oldest is 4. She took part in the Mythical maze trail and completely loved it. The library also ran a number of arts and craft activities which kept my daughter entertained for many an hour. Although we have had many days out where we spent a lot of money (some of these Aquariums and Zoos aren’t cheap) some of our best days were spent in the library trawling through well loved books or making mythical creatures. Not bad considering it is all free!!!

    1. I agree Jill, we’ve had a few expensive days out too but some of the more memorable moments have been in the library. Thanks for commenting.

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