library madness

last night we took the little dude to the local library for story time for 2 & 3 year olds. yes, i know, the little dude isn't two yet, but at 21 months he's very patient and well behaved....especially when being read to. plus i figured they wouldn't be checking id's at the door. well, maybe they should have....how-well-your-child-behaves-id's, that is. seriously.

the storyteller started off by saying that at story time, she closes the doors, but that if you need to leave at any time, PLEASE, please feel free. i'm not so sure what people thought she meant by that, but it obviously wasn't the same thing i thought. to me, that means: "if your kid is being a rotten, spoiled, brat during story time, we'd rather not have him/her here." obviously i was mistaken. to everyone else the meaning was: "please, no matter what happens, do not leave the room. we don't care if your kids are pulling an 8 foot paper tree off the wall. please, please stay!!"

story time for 2-3 year olds only lasts 20 minutes. they read 3 books and do 4 singing/interactive activities in between. if your kid can't behave for 20 minutes, then please don't come. i mean it. don't get me wrong. my kid isn't always a perfect angel. however, if we're at story time and he's being a punk, you better believe we're taking his ass right out of there and heading home. we're not going to stick around and submit perfect strangers, who are trying to enjoy stories, to his misbehaving.

the storyteller was very patient. much more patient than i would have been in her situation. she had them do stretches and shake themselves out after the first story since there were many that were misbehaving. she made several not-so-subtle remarks about the actions of some children. still, the parents were oblivious and stayed. the little dude couldn't pay attention or even hear the stories being read because there were kids literally running around the room screaming. i understand that every kid has occasional outbursts. that's fine. but when we're on our 5th outburst from the same child in 5 minutes, it's time to take him/her home.

maybe we're just lucky to have a kid who is, for the most part, well behaved at this age. however, i have a sneaking suspicion that it's a little like "super nanny". if you've ever watched so much as 10 minutes of this show, you'll find that it's always the parents who are the naughty ones. the poor kid is only starving for attention/trying to get your attention/trying to get you and your hubby to stop fighting, etc. etc. etc. i chose to believe that the reason we're "lucky" enough to have a well behaved child at this age is because we taught him to be that way!

now, i don't mean this post to be a my-kid-is-better-than-everyone-else's-kid post. rather, it's meant to be a post about parents who seem to be oblivious to their child's misbehaving. i honestly don't care if you chose to let your child behave that way at home. however, it is extremely rude to take them places and think that it's appropriate public behavior....especially in a group setting.

so please, if you live in a south-eastern town in wisconsin and attend the story time for 2-3 year olds on wednesday nights, take your devil child out of the room if they're misbehaving. please. for everyone's sanity.