![\"Photo](\"https:\/\/www.alsc.ala.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Lisa-K-Bubert_headshot.jpg\")
<\/a>Our guest blogger today is Lisa Bubert. Lisa is a Youth Services Librarian with the Frisco Public Library in Frisco, TX. Early literacy and writing are her two passions and she enjoys taking any opportunity to put them together.<\/em><\/p>\n
As I was flying home from Maryland after having visited relatives and gorged myself on way too much pie, I had the luck to sit next to a wonderful family of four. A mother, a father, a little four year-old boy and his sister, aged two.<\/p>\n
First, the boy and his father sat next to me. They played a few games together on their iPad (all apps, I noticed, that we at the library recommend for young children). They were wonderful to listen to (admittedly, I was asleep through most of the father\/son interaction \u2013 like I said, a lot of pie had been eaten!) — but the real treat came at the end of the flight when the mother and daughter switched to the seats next to me.<\/p>\n
They also spent some time on the iPad, though the apps were different and much more developmentally appropriate for her. Again, there was lots of conversation being had, lots of counting, talking about animals, telling stories, laughter and smiles! Then the iPad was put away and a favorite book was brought out that had to do with rock and roll animals (who wouldn\u2019t love that!). They read the book together, always taking time to stop and talk about the pictures in the book. At one point, the little girl even counted to ten in English and Spanish just for the fun of it!<\/p>\n
My little librarian heart just soared listening to them having so much fun with literacy! Finally, at the end of plane ride, I began talking to the mother and wouldn\u2019t you know it \u2013 she was a librarian too! She said she was an elementary and teen librarian and hadn\u2019t had an opportunity to work in early literacy but had been going to classes and workshops at her library ever since her children had been born. Then she said something that I\u2019ve heard before but I guess I\u2019d never really heard until then.<\/p>\n
She loved how intentional one can be with early literacy, and when that intentionality is focused on, how much more fun the process becomes for both her and her child. And they really were just having tons of fun, living in the moment and enjoying each other\u2019s company. As a result, I was having tons of fun just listening to them!<\/p>\n
Children grow up so fast and life can be so hectic that this sense of intentionality or purposefulness can sometimes be hard to find. I have a hard time finding it in the busy-ness of my work day. But her statement and her actions reminded me that finding even a little bit goes a long way. So I treat it like meditation. Before each story time or when I see a child approaching the desk, I take a breath and remember my purpose. My purpose is not something I will get to tomorrow or when my to-do list is clear. It is right now, with this child, this parent, and this moment.<\/p>\n
How do you demonstrate intentional early literacy with your families?<\/p>\n
***************************************************************<\/p>\n Our guest blogger today is Lisa Bubert. Lisa is a Youth Services Librarian with the Frisco Public Library in Frisco, TX. Early literacy and writing are her two passions and she enjoys taking any opportunity to put them together.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>