Finding Knowledge and Other (Green) Things at the Library

On this, the first morning of the school holidays, we walked to our local library. The walk was not without the usual handful of small dramas that tend to accompany any stroll with a toddler and a five-year-old, but all things considered, it was fairly successful. We encountered only one slightly scary, yappy dog on our journey. We had brief but friendly conversations with a man fixing his car in the driveway and a small boy peering through his front gate. We skinned one knee twice, but thankfully the knee belonged to the more physically resilient of the children, so we got away with minimal tears. Of course, the less hardy child noticed that her injured brother was receiving the lion’s share of attention and attempted to amend this discrepancy by fake-falling-over three times. But when the wheel of the pram accidentally clipped the back of her ankle, she was provided with a genuine opportunity to stage her own short production of suffering and sorrow. The balance of attention thus restored, we reached our destination in good spirits.

I’m a Library Teacher, so naturally I hope that my children will cultivate their own love of the library. I hope that they will learn to relish the hushed stillness, the smell of books, the cosy intimacy of a shared story, perhaps even that pit-of-your-stomach flutter of almost-hunger at opening a new book and devouring the first fresh and perfect words.

When we entered the children’s section of the library today, both of my children selected a pile of books and settled down on the floor to look through them. I felt a rush of pride at my well-behaved and studious offspring. We were getting ready to go when the library’s hushed stillness (and my momentary parental smugness) was pierced by the voice of a two-year-old not overly concerned with inside voices: “I’ve got green boogers!” He held his finger aloft, as if celebrating a Eureka moment of discovery, except that in this case the tip was adorned with a rather spectacular globule. “LOOK AT MY GREEN BOOGERS!”

Pick (excuse the pun) the Library Teacher’s son: making discoveries, eager to share his knowledge with others.