Workshop?!?

I was approached recently by a woman in charge of UPK programs in the Rochester area. I believe we had talked before. I would love to say I remember the conversation, but I talk a lot with everyone who enters this room, so I don't. I must of made an impression because she came in asking if I would do a workshop for teachers. I explained to her than I had no education background what-so-ever... that I was just a librarian. I just play with the toys, I joked. I attempted to further explain that there was someone else who could better do it, but she seemed prettty keen on me speaking. I am enthusiastic apparently.

Two realizations came out of that conversation, one was already known, but it was nice to be reminded. This place is important and what I do is important. I should never say again "I'm just a librarian..." Because I am more than that here. Every person who has worked here as left their imprint, I am lucky to be leaving mine.

I watch these kids grow up! I saw a little girl walk for the first time the other day. The mother pointed it out excitedly for me to see. I rememeber when the mother first told me she was pregnant. I remember the first time she was brought in... I have many stories similar to these. There are two little girls who come in and they are so shy, they barely look at me, let alone speak to me. Their mother told me that they each have dolls named after me. Lately I have also been getting presents from a little girl. First it was pictures of horses and the latest is a beaded bracelet with my name on it. It is sitting on my desk around the neck of a Jack Sparrow smal plush doll. It makes me giggle :)

The second realization was... it would be good for this place to have workshops again. It would be good for me to get out there and speak about this place. I have horrible stage fright, unless I'm talking about something I love... It's easy for me to talk about this place, what it does, what I do, because it is so natural. I don't have to write things down or awkwardly say "um..." every 3 seconds. I would need help to fill in the blanks about the whole education value thing though. Everything I know, I taught myself here.

Unsupervised Children

I read an article in my local newspaper yesterday about children being unsupervised this upcoming week since they're out of school for February recess... At first I was a little annoyed, but after looking at it again I think I made peace with it. The first thing I see is a headline about "unsupervised children" and then a picture from the area that I work in. It was from a rec center down the street from the library. I think that it over-generalized which population of children were being left alone to wander the streets. And then I was kinda peeved that this is not news. This is not a new thing that just started happening- kids being unsupervised all over the city and needing some place safe to be. Then today when I looked at it again I took a step back and realized that maybe this is news to some people.

"It's not a world where kids can be playing outside like they used to. ... Unsupervised after-school activities are not leading to anything productive."
---YMCA President and CEO George Romell

Read the article here...

I have been working in this neighborhood for over 3 years, so not a whole lot surprises me anymore. I may joke around about being an overpaid babysitter often, but I wouldn't have it any other way. For example I opened the Toy Library at 11 AM on Saturday. By 11:10 I had 10 children in here ranging from the ages of 4-10, and I was the only adult figure in the room. This is pretty normal for me and the other staff at the library. People ask me where their parents are all the time. And the simple answer is "Not here". They don't get it. Neither do I, sometimes. But at least they are here and not freezing their butts off outside, or getting into trouble, etc. And that is the bottom line for me. Even if it does mean that I "babysit"

Even Games Become Movies....

Universal Pictures is sweet on "Candy Land."

Studio has set Etan Cohen to write and Kevin Lima to direct a live-action feature based on the enduring Hasbro board game.

Read more here...

Blog post from Out of the Toy Box

"We have for a number of years been losing children. First we lost the boys to computer games. Then we lost the girls to cell phones and other Tween delights. After that we lost the Dads as those Mario playing boys grew up and had children of their own."
Read the rest here....

I just started reading Richard Gottlieb's blog. There isn't many blogs out there about play or toys so I was happy to find it. He has great insights on the toy market... plus we kind of have something in common. We would rather promote the use of board games than electronic gaming devices (like Wii)

Just a little of this and that....

• I just told a boy to get off a car that he was standing on (to get a toy off a higher shelf) and he told me I was causing trouble. This kid has the ability to twist it around every time I discipline him. Like I am the one in trouble! It is half defiant, half guilt trip. It is truly is amazing. I don't know where these kids get it from, the lack of respect. I want to know where the respect went. I had the fear put into me when I was a child. You never talked back to an adult, EVER! And it is not just at this library or in this neighborhood... I have noticed it everywhere.

• I am receiving a grant from the Greater Rochester Health Foundation to buy new physical active toys for the library. I had a volunteer who is grant savvy help me apply for it. She did an amazing job, as did the grant writer in our main office. I wouldn't have been able to do it myself. So I get to buy stuff to give away to families, centers, schools and providers PLUS I get quite a bit of money to buy new items! I spent it in approximately 5 seconds through Lakeshore. Yea! More tricycles!

• I love that I am getting new toys that promote physical activity. The whole reason I was so passionate about applying for this grant was because I have noticed a high energy level in kids after they have been in school all day long. They need to be able to release it in a safe place, out of the cold and off the streets. The library is it. So I have begun to try and clear some space for kids to run around more. They are pretty much allowed to do whatever as long as they’re not getting hurt, they’re not hurting someone else, my collection, the shelves and they are genuinely being respectful of the room (and me).
  

Games- What a novel idea!

I read this article yesterday in the American Libraries magazine. On one hand I'm like "Oh great games are getting recognition as part of literacy" on the other hand I say "DUH!" Why is this concept so new?

Sidenote: I really really want this game for the toy library :)

GAMING GOES MAINSTREAM

Gaming of all types continued to gain acceptance in libraries, and librarians are asking increasingly sophisticated questions about the ways they can use games. ALA TechSource’s second Gaming, Learning, and Libraries Symposium, held November 2– 4 in Oak Brook, Illinois, explored gaming as a tool to achieve myriad goals, including improving literacy, inspiring academic interest, building bridges across generations, and raising money. Statistics helped to back up gaming’s advocates, with research from the Pew Internet and American Life project indicating a link between gaming and civic engagement among teens. ALA, meanwhile, launched National Gaming Day @ your library November 15, with free copies of Hasbro’s board game Pictureka sent to every public library in the country, and ALA’s Annual Conference featured “California Dreaming,” a “big game” that participants played by interacting with their physical surroundings.

American Libraries(CB). American Libraries (Volume 39, Issue 11, December 2008).

Chicago, IL, USA: American Libraries, 2008. p 40.

http://site.ebrary.com/lib/ala/Doc?id=10255361&ppg=42

Actual Conversation

Girl: "Why does this toy keep talking to me?"

Me: "Because you keep pushing the button"

Girl: "I think it's mental. Maybe it needs to go to the hospital"

Article from Babble Magazine

Toy Libraries: An Idea in Need of a Comeback?

Posted by Amy Kuras

Since we’re apparently – at least here in the cradle of the car industry – blowing right past “recession” into raging depression (in every sense) I think toy libraries are an idea whose time has come again.

In San Diego, a toy library started in 1937. Works Progress Administration workers (part of Roosevelt’s New Deal) cleaned and repaired 2000 toys that had been collected by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Many of them came from a department store that had burned down.

The first toy library opened at an elementary school in the city, and soon there were 9 within the city of San Diego and 14 around the county. More than 5,000 children were registered. There was no charge to join, nor were there overdue fees or damage fees. Instead, if a toy was badly damaged or overdue, children lost borrowing privileges for a certain time. In between uses, workers would clean and sanitize the toys for the next user. A certain number of toys retuned on time earned children one toy that they could keep.

The idea was that being responsible for the borrowed toys helped build character. It was also thought to lessen juvenile delinquency, because children would not steal what they could borrow.

This was back in the day where children didn’t have very many toys, unlike today’s kids. I think in this economy, this could really help families ot save – after all, how often do you buy your kid a toy that’s their favorite thing for like a day and then just sits? This would be a great way to try out toys and see what’s worth buying, and would be so great for families that can’t afford high quality toys for their children.

Donations

So yesterday I began the process of cleaning off the donations shelf. I had bins there from a month ago and after I looked through them, I remembered why I was avoiding them. I probably had 2-3 boxes of random pieces, a few games and Elmos.

I can't decide which of them wins on the obnoxious scale... but both make me giggle. The Elmo Loves You has these sweet little heart eyes that light up when he sings. The second one is called Check-Up Time Elmo and it kept asking me to check it's boo-boo and help him blow his nose. It freaked me out a little. I have seen infants with toys like these and they seem to share my hesitation with them. Even my dog (a very fierce Shih Tzu named Murphy) knows better. But older children (a little older than the toy's intention by the way) love them! This is why I have a small collection of talking/ laughing/ singing Elmos behind my desk. I can only take so much. There is already a Sesame Street toy that sings the character's songs that I put up with. I hear them in my sleep.

Anyway, back to the point. Donations. Last year around this time a woman came in with her 2 children and about 10 months pregnant with her 3rd. This was only her second time there and she brought her father with her. A couple weeks later she came in again bringing in 2 of the 2007 Hess Trucks, saying that her father was so impressed by the place he wanted the library to have these. I was so completely touched by the gesture. It showed me that there really are just good hearted people out there, especially around this time of year. A few weeks ago the woman came in again after not being here since last winter. She gave me a hug and re-introduced me to all three of her children including the newly walking infant Daniel. She brought her father in again with her and with him he carried the new fancy 2008 Hess Truck. I got a giant smile on my face and was again reminded of the simple nice deeds that we can do for others around us.

I love that people care enough to give back to the community and give me their children's old toys for the library. They are giving away part of their childhood and it will be recycled over and over again into someone else’s childhood memories. That’s fantastic. And then there are the other people who give me pieces of toys. I have a large bin on wheels for people to carry out items to their car. It is big enough to put a Cozy Coupe and a teeter totter in, so it’s pretty big. It was full of miscellaneous pieces and toys. I cut it down to about 20 pieces in a small bin. I just threw away a large box and am giving away 3 smaller boxes to boss lady for giveaways. It was so much work to go through them though and I would never say it isn’t worth it, because sometimes I find those odd little treasures. But honestly, and I say this with the best opinions at heart, it was crap. It was pieces of toys that my OCD brain could not handle. But you know what? Children that come in here, that my boss will give these to, will probably love them.

Now only if they would take the Elmos away.....

Karma

Two mothers came in the other day with their (combined) 5 children. They have been coming in for at least 2 of the 3 years I've worked here so I know them reasonably well, enough to joke around and begin random conversations. Anyway, one of them has a little girl and she just cracks me up. Maybe she reminds myself of me when I was that age, or how I imagined myself to be... I'm not sure. But she's cute as a button, has no fear, climbs on the tops of tables or shelves when she wants something. So I laugh, every time. Just like when the kids come in from the school next door... they come in running and screaming and every single time I crack up.

Karma is going to kick my butt one day, I guarantee. I am going to have children one day and since I have spent the last 3 years laughing my butt off at kids, mine are going to be sooo naughty. I just have a feeling.

I must go grab toys now for a workshop being hosted here this evening. And by the way I found out about it yesterday... Somehow me and one of the pages got this entire room clean and beautiful!!!
((It won't last)) Ha!!!!