Thursday, September 18, 2008

Story Time

I have sweet memories of taking Brenna to story time at the library. She loved to listen to the stories and do the little finger plays. She made a few friends there (where doesn't Brenna make friends?) and we went pretty much every week until my third trimester with Daniel. She really enjoyed going.

I've been told at least a hundred times not to compare my kids.

I took Daniel to story time last week. I haven't decided if I'll take him back. Everything was going well as we walked into the library. He was saying hi to everyone we passed and asking me, "read a book, mom? read a book?" Something happened when we turned the corner into the children's section. I started feeling the resistance. The room was empty except for a lone librarian shelving books who pointed us to the story room.

I nearly drug Daniel into the room. As soon as he could see the other kids and moms he started backing up. We sat on the uncarpeted part of the room until I could convince him to scoot forward. For the next 20 minutes, he refused to participate. If the teacher asked everyone to get up, he sat firmly in my lap. If the teacher said everyone should sit down and listen to the story, he ran around in circles. Literally. My threats deterred him only momentarily, and I wondered if I should risk the tantrum and leave. He was by far the most distracting element in the room.

I stuck it out with evil glares, finger snaps, and firm arm grips. When story time finally came to an end, he fell in love with the bubble machine. And though it took a while, he warmed up to the other kids enough to go play in the cascade.

I felt torn between "never doing that again!" and "bringing him back so he'll learn!" With a few days distance, I'm leaning heavily toward the latter. We'll arrive a little earlier this week and try to sit up front. Maybe he'll do better that way.

Maybe.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Julie,
I am so glad to hear Daniel is going to Story Time. What a great experience for him. Now that he has his feet wet, he may just want to jump in the next time. :) Or, it make take a couple weeks, but that is ok.
If you know the fingerplays being used, review them with Daniel at home. Have Michael and Brenna do them with Daniel as well.
If Daniel hears the familiar at Story time, it could make a big difference with his joining in.
One last thing... Sorry the teacher in me kicked in when I read your post... Place a rectangle in Daniel's pocket. Tell him if he listens to the story, you will give him a smiley, if he does the fingerplay, another smiley, and if he plays with the other children, another smiley. When Story Time is over, if Daniel has all 3 smilies, reward him. When Michael and Brenna get home from school, make a big deal about the smilies to them.. which will be another reward for Daniel. If need be, you may just want to begin with 2 smilies and work up to more.

Suz

PS Keep in mind, Daniel is still considered a young 2 year old where Brenna would have been an older 2 year old, because of their birthday placement.