I waited 9 months to take Slane to the library for Mother Goose story time. What a let-down. I mean, I see where they are going with it, and why they did the things they did, but I was disappointed.
Now, I also realize that reading or doing anything with 15 toddlers and their mothers can be difficult, but don't try to do something you shouldn't be doing. So, we went into the room. The library is only a few months old, so it is a pretty sweet space, really. There is this paper snowflake type thing on the ceiling, and these great climbable steps in one corner. In fact, that is what Slane spent most of the time exploring. We sat on a colored square (well, I did, Slane was already climbing, then eventually she stole another kids colored square).
Story time started with introductions. I knew a couple of the other moms and their kids, which was nice. They we sang a couple of songs, and then the lady read a story. Then we did a rhyme, sang another song, and heard another story. Then we got to play with instruments while singing another song. Story time was then over, and we got some graham bunnies and little cups of water. The theme was oceans, so everything was about water. Nice, but here is the part where the music teacher in me almost went ballistic...how could they ever expect little ones to sing in keys so low even the alto in me had to stretch and it hurt?
I realize the lady was not a music teacher, but a librarian who is attempting to expose little ones to books and literacy and what-not, but if they were going to do that type of thing, wouldn't they consult a music teacher who is trained to teach and sing those songs?
I, of course, tried to give them the benefit. Maybe the regular person who is better at this is gone, or maybe I'm just too new to the whole taking my child to story time thing that I don't know how it works. Or maybe my training in literacy and music was bogus. Don't know.
I do know that we will probably go to story time again, and I will set low expectations. Slane just went for the climbing anyway. :)
