Weekly Rhyme Time and Library Visits

When you’re reading a book, do you ever just stop, put your nose to the page, and take a deep sniff, hoping nobody saw you? Don’t worry, you’re not alone, I’m a book sniffer too! I’m a member of a monthly book club, and I’m always on Goodreads updating my progress and adding books to my reading lists. I love books! I have a friend who laughs at how excited I get about going to the library. You enter with no idea what stories or epic tales you’re going to go home with. You find a section and start exploring the shelves, reading blurbs, and maybe smelling a few. Then you leave with anything you want (excluding reference books, of course) free of charge! At my library, I can borrow up to 20 items! Every time I walk in, I have up to 20 different possibilities I can go home with!

This is why it was a no-brainer for me, once my son was old enough, I would take him to the library and help him discover a love for books as well. I just wasn’t sure when was an appropriate age to start reading to him. Luckily, at our 8-week check with the health nurse, she stressed to me the importance of reading to children at a very early age, and we were told to start straight away. It was from that moment on that we began our weekly trips to the library. Each week we would return our current books and bring home some new ones. He couldn’t sit up by himself at this stage, so I would strap him in to his rocking chair and read him the books. I didn’t know if he could understand me, but I could see him closely studying the pages, absorbing it all.

Then our child health nurse came through with the goods again when she introduced us to Rhyme Time, which is run at our local library! I’d never heard of these magical 30-minute sessions, known as Rhyme Time, where the library staff entertain your child with a mix of songs, rhymes and a story, and once again, for free! Of course I was onboard for this! We still go to Rhyme Time now and I always have a laugh to myself when I see mums with newborn babies sitting nicely on the floor on their cute blankets. The babies are lying there so calm and peaceful, and the mums are enjoying a nice time with their babies. This didn’t happen for us until he was about six months old. Before that, he would usually be crying and I would arrive a frazzled mess as the only mum with the baby causing a scene at Rhyme Time. And if he wasn’t crying, he was sleeping through the whole experience. One time, I got lucky, and we arrived at the library without any crying, then I found the reason why, nappy explosion…and I’m talking a code brown situation, not yellow.

After a few stressful attempts, I decided to take a break from Rhyme Time until he was a bit older. At around six months of age, once his wake windows were longer, he was sitting on his own and doing a lot less of the dramatic crying, we went back to Rhyme Time. He loved it; he would sit on my lap for the full 30 minutes, captivated by the songs and their actions. And that’s when our weekly Rhyme Time and coffee dates were born. As he got a bit older and started crawling, I noticed he would try and move around in the lull between the songs. Being a socially awkward person, I would always sit at the back of Rhyme Time. One day, we were running late and the only space left was the space at the very front where no one wants to sit. Sitting at the front was the best decision we ever made! I noticed his attention span was much better when he could really see what was going on and he just sat in my lap the whole time paying close attention and occasionally trying to do some of the actions. I’m now that slightly overenthusiastic person who will walk in front of everyone to make sure my boy gets a spot at the front where he can get the most out of the sessions. He gets so excited when we come to the library now that sometimes I sneak to the library to get him more books on days when he’s at child care because I hate disappointing him when it’s not a Rhyme Time day.

About six months after we started regularly attending Rhyme Time, my son had turned one and we began to notice his vocabulary growing. One day, while I was pointing out some numbers on his mat, he said “Two”. He loved pointing out the two and saying “Two” whenever we played in his room. Now at 15-months-old, he is saying a variety of words and numbers, he has also just started recognising letters. He loves running into our laundry and pointing out the “10-year warranty” sticker on our washing machine and proudly saying “Ten.” I’m really grateful to our child health nurse, the library staff, and all the services available at the library. I believe the combination of our weekly trips to the library, Rhyme Time sessions, and all the books we’ve read together has really helped his language development, and most importantly, his love for books.

We still try to go to Rhyme Time once a week, but unfortunately, he has now started child care which is on Wednesdays so we only have Fridays available to go to Rhyme Time. I tried to enrol him on days that didn’t clash with Rhyme Time, but we just couldn’t avoid it. His child care often goes for an excursion to Rhyme Time. This fills me with comfort to hear he is being taken to a place he knows and loves while he’s still going through his settling-in period. Last Friday, the nap gods aligned, and I was excited that we could finally attend Rhyme Time after having a few weeks off—only to find when we got there, that the library was closed for repairs. I was so disappointed that we couldn’t spend our special time together. I haven’t taken him for a few weeks now, and I really miss seeing the excitement on his face when he realises where we are and what’s happening.

What’s next for us? The library has so many other activity sessions for children of different ages, so as he grows, we’ll continue our library journey. The staff have informed us that he can get his own library card. Once he’s old enough to choose his own books, I’ll be getting him his own library card, which I hope will add to the joy of our library trips. I think Mum might also have to get the sewing machine out and make a library bag.

So, the moral of my story is to stress how important it is to read to our children. Not only is it a great bonding experience, but it’s also a vital key for their literacy development. Reading aloud to children from an early age has been shown to improve both listening and language skills. One phrase I’ve often heard is that repetition is key—you might read the same book over and over again. Then one day, your child will point to a picture in the book and tell you what it is, and you’ll realise they’ve been taking it all in this whole time.

Happy reading! 📚📖