Moms Thankful for Libraries Explain Why

Each week in Moms Talk, our Moms Council of experts and smart moms take your questions, give advice and share solutions.

Moms, dads, grandparents and the diverse families who make up our community will have a new resource for questions about local neighborhood schools, the best pediatricians, 24-hour pharmacies and the thousands of other issues that arise while raising children.

Moms Talk will also be the place to drop in for a talk about the latest parenting hot topic. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in as we start the conversation today with a question: How has the library benefited your family?

Jan Katz-Kellogg: The library has been an invaluable resource to our family for years. I had a great love of reading as a child, spent many hours at Gritter’s library and wanted to instill the same trait in my child. From the time my son was a baby, we trekked over to the main Marietta library at least once a week, and it was a great adventure for him. For me, it was an inexpensive activity we could do often–rain or shine. As I am writing this, I realize how many good memories were made at the library; rainy days as we poured over picture books, picked out movies or went for storytelling sessions.

For example, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day was a favorite when my son was a toddler, and it will never leave my brain. Alexander is my son’s middle name, which delighted him, and I remember reading that book to him over and over for weeks (it felt like years). It was interesting for me to see what my child naturally gravitated to in the library. Over the years, I watched his interests change. For a year we stayed in the section on animals, later to astronomy and finally to sports. These interests spawned all sorts of activities: He took horseback riding lessons, got a telescope to view the stars and began his decade-long obsession with baseball and football.  He read everything he could get his hands on about both sports. At 15 years old, he still does!

It has been a few years since we have made those trips together to the library. He has a school library and the Internet as resources now.  He also is in advanced classes and enjoys biographies–as his mom does. I firmly believe that his academic success and creative mind was influenced by those early trips to the library. When my son grows up, I don’t think I will hear him say his fondest learning experiences came from the Internet. I know he’ll remember Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, the horses he read about and rode, the names of the planets we learned about together and how he came to love sports so much.

The joy and empowerment of the written word will never be replaced by technology. In fact, I think it’s more important than ever to make sure our kids aren’t depending solely on the Internet and social media to learn about the world. I sure hope other children aren’t denied this wonderful resource because libraries inspire fertile minds. They open up a world of imagination and curiosity a parent can encourage, help stimulate-and monitor. And last, but certainly not least, taking a child to the library provides a great opportunity for bonding and creates great memories.

Kim Koch: My mom had me surrounded in library books from a very young age. If we weren’t in the library it was at a used bookstore. Reading has always come naturally to me. My sister has dyslexia, and even with that, she graduated with honors and she makes time every evening to read even with three children. Both of our homes and even my brothers home are immersed in books. Many hand-me-down books line all of our shelves.

Before my son could walk, he would ride in his stroller or wagon to our local branch, Sibley. Story time with Ms Linda was always the best. She would start by singing and playing music, she had her own unique way of storytelling. Many books she read to us both are forever etched in our hearts.

We would go to the main branch when studying required more resources, such as science fair projects and required reading for school. It was a wonderful way to teach him not only a lifetime love of reading, how to resource information, proper manners and how to respect other people’s property as well as he would his own.

I remember one day he realized that the library not only offered books, but videos, even art and music to borrow.  We filled our home with new sounds , stories and beautiful works of art on a weekly basis.

Being a part of the library system has taught him that there is a wonderful, quiet place to go when information is needed, or to even have a break from the hectic world we live in, and get lost in someone elses journey.