Children’s Librarians are Experts at Always Improving our Storytimes (Baby Storytime to be exact)

When I started as a children’s librarian, I didn’t know much about doing storytime, and I knew even less about working with babies. I haven’t been around a lot of babies in my life, so the idea of baby storytime, for children ages birth to 24 months, was one of my nightmares. Fortunately–for my professional development, but unfortunately for my nerves–I had a boss who encouraged me to do baby storytime. Throughout the entire process of planning and executing storytime, I was nervous; thoughts of failure and self-doubt were always running through my mind. The babies seemed unimpressed with the songs and rhymes and it felt like I wasn’t helping them learn anything.

As I talked to other librarians about their experiences and read library blogs, I realized I had to change my mindset. I had to learn that babies and their caregivers aren’t scary and they aren’t judging how well I do. Once I let that fear go, working with babies became a lot more pleasant and I even enjoy doing baby storytime.

So maybe you’re right out of graduate school, or maybe you’re offering baby storytime for the first time, or maybe you’re like me and terrified of babies. Here are some tips and changes in mindset that helped me improve not only my baby storytime but also my attitude toward it:

• Babies aren’t always going to respond to you with as much emotion as older children might, and that is OKAY! Just because they give you a blank stare or don’t smile doesn’t mean they aren’t having fun or learning something.
• Be flexible and go with the flow. Babies are on their own schedules and sometimes aren’t in the mood for the bouncing rhyme or lifting song, so don’t take it personally, just move on.
• Puppets are a must! In my personal experience, a cute and realistic looking dog or duck puppet (with a moving mouth for baby kisses) are a big hit.
• Parents are appreciative of what you do. You are teaching them new ways to interact with their child and do early literacy at home, and they recognize that.
• Repetition is important. Show the rhyme once, then repeat it with the parent/caregiver singing along. Also, repeating rhymes and songs each week allows parents the time to learn the tune or rhythm, to get comfortable enough so they can do it at home.
• Classic nursery rhymes are great to use. Some parents know the lyrics to nursery rhymes, but maybe you can teach them hand motions. Other times, parents don’t know the classic nursery rhymes or don’t remember them, so it’s always good to go back to the basics.
• Finally, there isn’t a right way or a wrong way to do baby storytime. Do what fits best for your community, your caregivers, and your babies. Honestly, every day is different, so you’ll probably have to change what you plan anyway.

Tori Ann Ogawa is a youth services librarian at Kitsap Regional Library in Washington and is writing this post for the ALSC Early Childhood Services and Programs Committee. You can tweet her @ToriOgawa.

This post addresses the following ALSC Core Competencies: I. Commitment to Client Group and III. Programming Skills.